A CENTENERY event is being organised to commemorate Blackwood's link to the sinking of the Titanic in 1912.

On the weekend of April 14 and 15, 100 years after the disaster, Blackwood and District Amateur Radio Society will be operating a special station call sign from the Gelli Groes Mill, Pontllanfraith.

It was at the 17th century water mill in 1912 that a wireless experimenter received calls for help after the Titanic hit an iceberg, but, after racing to inform local police, no-one in the area believed him.

The water mill was home to the Moore family and Arthur (Artie) Moore who lived between 1887 and 1949 was a keen wireless experimenter, using his homemade, crude radio equipment on the fateful night.

He received a faint morse code transmission which said "Require immediate assistance. Come at once we have struck an iceberg. Sinking, we are putting the women off in the boats."

Mr Moore continued copying out the signals he was receiving, hardly believing the words he was writing down.

The final signal he received was "Come quickly as possible old man our engine room is filling up to the boilers."

He raced to the local police station to inform officers of the terrible news, but nobody believed him. It was only two days later when it was announced in the national press people realised he had been right.

The receiving of these signals is believed to be the only land-based reception in the UK, possibly the world, as they were relayed to Newfoundland by other ships.

On hearing of his skills in creating his own wireless device, Mr Moore was given a job in the Marconi company as a draughtsman and in 1932 he patented the Echo Meter- an early form of sonar.

Details of the transmission taking place to commemorate Mr Moore's part in history can be found at www.gw6gw.co.uk