For some months now the Somerset Town of Bridgwater has been in touch with the Canadian towns of Drummondville and Yamachiche in Quebec plus the Cornish town of Bodmin to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first international shortwave transatlantic tele-communication link. On Tuesday April 21st April there will be an online PRESS CONFERENCE which will reveal plans for the anniversary scheduled for 25th October of this year.
The General Public can listen in via this link UK (General): https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86900289009
The event will be on Tuesday 21st April 10.00 Canada time therefore 1500 UK time. The Canadian participants will be gathered at the former Marconi station of Drummondville, now the headquarters of the Quebec Civil Emergency Response service (1425 rue des trois maisons, Drummondville, QC J2B 8J6)
Celebrating a Visionary Legacy Together Much more than a simple commemoration, this event will highlight the many impacts of this groundbreaking discovery on the daily lives of people around the world in 2026
The original signal sent in 1926 was received at the Bridgwater station (now the empty field on the high ground next to the Bridgwater motorway service station) and then transmitted to Poldhu, the destination station near Bodmin in Cornwall
The event will be re-enacted using artefacts and equipment from the 1920s.
The pioneering work in this field had been started in the Bridgwater area with Guglielmo Marconi first transmitting ship to shore and land to land from the Brean Down area near Bridgwater and then establishing the Marconi beam wireless station at Huntworth.
A book by local author and former radio operator Larry Bennett “The Marconi Beam Wireless stations of Somerset” is available (www.larrybennett.co.uk) and radio hams from both sides of the Atlantic will be participating in the event.
From Bridgwater Town Council the Deputy Mayor Cllr Leigh Redman and the Town Council Leader and local historian Cllr Brian Smedley will be contributing.
“The first transmission was more than just a technical feat; it was the true tipping point toward the era of modern telecommunications. Without this breakthrough, mobile telephony, satellite communications, 5G and even the future 6G would not look the same today. Another first for Bridgwater”
Sources;-
https://www.westoverward.co.uk/town-diary/bridgwater-pioneers-the-airwaves/
https://broadcasting-history.ca/personalities/marconi-guglielmo/
https://gb2gm.org/mc-events/marconi-wireless-beam-celebration-launch/?mc_id=372