work. By the end of day one, the port of Larne was sealed off, with a significant UDA and UVF presence helping to ensure that no ships were allowed to enter or leave the harbour. Elsewhere roadblocks were set up and manned by loyalist paramilitaries under the Ulster Army Council. Hijacked vehicles were often used to block the streets. Electricity supplies were also disrupted when workers at the Ballylumford power station went on strike. The power cuts forced some factories to close and send workers home. The UWC issued a statement that it would ensure that essential services would continue. During the evening there was a meeting at Stormont Castle between Stanley Orme (then Minister of State at the Northern Ireland Office) and the representatives of the various groups active in UWC, namely Harry West, Bill Craig and Ian Paisley (the leaders of the three political parties – Ulster Unionist Party, Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party and Democratic Unionist Party – that formed the pro-strike United Ulster Unionist Council), Andy Tyrie and Tommy Lyttle of the UDA and the UVF's Ken Gibson. Orme attempted unsuccessfully to persuade the leaders to abandon the strike although it would not be until the 19th that West followed Craig and Paisley in publicly endorsing the strike. 16 May: Day two of the strike The strike began to impact upon agriculture as milk that had not been collected or processed had to be dumped whilst fresh food was similarly not transported to market. However a group of essential services were defined by the UWC, who permitted these to continue as normal, issuing a phone number for anyone involved in these professions. The full list of services deemed essential by the UWC was as follows: bakeries, groceries, dairies, chemists, butchers, confectioners, electricity, gas, water, sewage, hospitals, animal feed, farmers, wages, banks, schools, medical services, hospital and school transport, solicitors, newspapers, normal recreational activities, coal supplies and postal service. Bars were not included in this list, with the UWC ordering pub closures. This decision, which was made in the evening of 16 May, several hours after the initial list had been published, was strongly influenced by the wives of striking workers, who had complained that many of their husbands were using the strike as an excuse for heavy drinking sessions. Attempts by significant sections of the workforce to carry on at leading Belfast factories such as Mackies on