It is hard to imagine modern life without electricity. We rely on it so much in our daily lives, we don't even think about it. When our supply is lost temporarily, it seems as though the world is about to end.

Transport systems grind to a halt, our main sources of entertainment vanish, work stops as equipment fails. No computers or television, our nights lit not by electric bulbs but the glow of gas lamps and candles. That is what life was like in Slough just over a hundred years ago.

At the beginning of the 20th Century, electricity was a new and exciting development. It was only just being introduced into towns across the country as local supplies became available. One would expect its arrival in Slough to be major news, but in the Slough, Eton and Windsor Observer of 11 July 1903 the following announcement was hardly a fanfare:

"The Slough and Datchet Electric Supply Company commenced to serve customers with current on Saturday last, and several shops in the High street, Slough, are now provided with the illuminant. The Company's station at Chalvey is expected to be ready for the generation of electricity next September and meanwhile the current will be obtained from Windsor."

The Slough and Datchet Electric Supply Company Ltd. was established in 1902. When they began supplying Slough with electric current, they did not have their own station ready (as can be read above), so in the meantime current was bought from the Metropolitan Electric Supply Company Ltd. Only in 1906 could they extend their supply to cover the Eton Rural District generally.