If you can't get to Britain to celebrate the anniversary of the great admiral's triumph and death then our Nelson is the next best thing.

If you can't get to Britain to celebrate the anniversary of the great admiral's triumph and death then our Nelson is the next best thing.

A peal of bells celebrating Horatio Nelson's great victory at the Battle of Trafalgar - a victory which changed the course of history - will ring out at the New Zealand city named after him at noon on October 21 and echo around the world.

The antipodean Nelson will also celebrate the 200th anniversary of the battle with a flotilla of ships in the harbour, an admiral in full dress uniform landing on the beach, the officers and men of the Navy parading through the streets to receive the freedom of the city ... and a special brew of Nelson's Victory Ale on sale in local pubs.

If you can't get to Britain to celebrate the anniversary of the great admiral's triumph and death then our Nelson is the next best thing.

Indeed, it being the first Nelsonian city to see the sun, the big day will in a sense begin there.

It will certainly lead off the around-the-world peal of bells in 2000 towns and cities named for Trafalgar or its participants.

The peal will start at Nelson Cathedral, 30 minutes later bells in Australia will take over the task, and from there it will roll gradually around the globe.

Nelson cathedral bellringer Triona Rawley says that while it is an honour to start off the event, it will also be quite a challenge because 30 minutes is a long time to ring a peal.

"We are used to ringing only 10 minutes at a time so we will need more than one bellringer. Fortunately we trained new ringers earlier this year. Even so a former colleague is coming home to Nelson to be part of this special event."

New Zealand's Nelson has had close links with the great admiral since the settlement was founded in 1842.

The choice of name was probably suggested by Captain Arthur Wakefield, who led the expedition to what was the New Zealand Company's second colony, since his service in the Royal Navy included a stint under Sir Thomas Masterman Hardy, captain of Nelson's flagship at Trafalgar, the Victory.

Hardy is, of course, mainly famous as the recipient of Nelson's deathbed comment, "Kiss me [or was it kismet?] Hardy."

But he is further remembered in one of Nelson's oldest streets, Hardy St, also named by Wakefield.

Other Nelsonian streets nearby are Nile, after the battle where Nelson destroyed the French fleet; Vanguard, the name of his flagship at Nile; Collingwood, after Admiral Lord Cutherbert Collingwood, his second-in-command at Trafalgar; St Vincent, after Cape St Vincent, the battle where Nelson first made his name; and of course Trafalgar.