A SPECIAL piece of music is to be composed to mark the centenary of the death of one of Colne’s most famous sons.

Bandmaster Wallace Hartley’s conducted the orchestra on the Titanic as the ill-fated liner sank on its maiden voyage.

Colne Orchestra is now putting together a landmark concert for April 15, the day the ship went down with the loss of more than 1,500 lives.

And Peter Young, the former musical director and organist at Holy Trinity Church in Colne, is drawing up plans for a special piece of music for the centenary.

He has approached town councillors with a £1,500 estimate for the composition, favouring a work incorporating Hartley’s favoured instrument, the violin.

Hartley’s father was choirmaster at Bethel Chapel, close to Holy Trinity.

Several other events are also being planned to mark the anniversary.

A newly-established Titanic Committee is also in talks with the BBC’s Songs of Praise, over the possibility of broadcasting the programme from Colne, in April 2011.

And Jonathan Evans-Jones, who played Hartley in the 1997 James Cameron film, has also been approached about participating.

Hartley and his orchestra became world famous for continuing to play after the ship hit an iceberg en-route to New York, knowing they would go down with vessel because there were not enough lifeboats.

Father Tony Rindl, Colne’s rector, said: “One of the aims of these events is not only to commemorate Wallace Hartley in 2012 but to continue to promote our connections with him thereafter.

“The integrity and the dignity that we associate with Wallace Hartley is something which we would should teach children of every age.”

The committee will also approach local firms in a bid to secure business sponsorship for the initiative.

Hartley is buried in the town’s cemetery, a monument stands to him off Albert Road and a blue plaque is displayed at his childhood home, near The Crown Hotel.