Although a pint of milk cost just 17p and a loaf of bread 33p, 1980 was tough for many.

With major-highs in unemployment, finding work wasn't easy – especially for steelworkers.

In early January workers at British Steel Corporation went on a nationwide strike regarding pay. Around 90,000 of British Steel's 150,000 workforce were protesting in a bid to obtain a 20 per cent pay rise.

Read more: PICTURES: More photos from events across Dorset taken in 1980

Shortly after, British Steel Corporation announced that more than 11,000 jobs were to be axed at its Wales plant by the end of March.

In mid-February Margaret Thatcher announced that state benefit to strikers would be halved and just two weeks later the steelworker's strike was called off.

On August 28 it was announced that unemployment stood at 2 million and economists were predicting that the number was going to rise. And that it did.

Read more: PICTURES: Do you recognise these faces from 1980?

Consett Steelworks in Consett, County Durham closed in September with the loss of 4,500 jobs. It instantly became the town with the highest rate of unemployment in the UK.

But, through it all, the people of Dorset showed dogged resolve and managed to forget the recession for a few seconds while they smiled for the camera – as these pictures taken in the county in 1980 show.