HAMPSHIRE school pupils have been to Russia, the United States, Sweden and a host of other countries - via the airwaves.

The science club at Applemore College near Hythe has marked the centenary of Marconi's famous first radio message from the Isle of Wight to Cornwall by launching its own radio club.

And when things got off the ground, there was a lot of help from the amateur radio experts of the Waterside Amateur Radio Society.

Led by their chairman Major John Daw and licensed radio operators Robin Brazier, Bill Simmons and Tony Horton, the students tuned in to countries around the globe.

Operators at stations in countries including Kuwait, Morocco, Bulgaria, Sweden, Norway, Gibraltar, Poland and the United States were found on the world wide network.

So, too, was one of the society's own members, Pat Leach, who spoke to the members of the college's new club from his home in Dibden Purlieu.

Major Daw's radio experience began when he was a member of the Royal Signals Corps. He was one of ten operators in Poland monitoring troop movements immediately before the Second World War and he was hastily recalled to England when hostilities broke out.

After that he operated radios in numerous places during the war.

But he was quick to point out that Marconi's very early work happened just a short distance from Applemore at Lepe, with some of the very first messages being transmitted across the Solent to the Isle of Wight.

Applemore science teacher Peter Savage said it was planned that the school's after-school radio club would meet on a regular basis.

"We have had tremendous enthusiasm from the pupils and they have been learning the ropes very quickly.

"We are also grateful for the help we have received from the society," he said.

As well speaking to people from other countries, the college pupils were shown how to use a VHF system and linked into an authorised chat room in Massachusetts, as well as Moscow, Dresden and Croatia.