A FESTIVAL is linking up with an American radio station to present a special Mayflower transmission as part of the historic ship’s 400th anniversary celebrations.

The Harwich Festival of the Arts, which delivers festivals each year and runs the Harwich Arts and Heritage Centre, in Dovercourt, has teamed up with Radio WOMR, in Provincetown, Massachusetts, to host the unique programme.

The Mayflower sailed its 100 passengers on a gruelling ten-week voyage across the Atlantic to the New World, known today as the United States of America, back in 1620.

The ship’s captain Christopher Jones, and many of the crew, hailed from Harwich and Mr Jones’ house still stands in King’s Head Street.

Provincetown is where the Mayflower first docked in America on November 11, 1620.

However, the settlers found the location too inhospitable and re-embarked to sail around the coast - and they finally dropped anchor in what became New Plymouth on December 18 that year.

The Harwich Festival has now been invited to curate a 90-minute programme to be aired across Cape Cod on the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower’s arrival.

The playlist will comprise tracks by artists who performed at the Harwich Digital Festival in June, as well as two “Greetings From Harwich” messages from Peter Davis, the Harwich Festival’s artistic director, and Andy Schooler, the curator of Christopher Jones’ House.

Simon Ashley, festival programming committee member and co-ordinator of the show, said: “An old friend of mine in New York has a house near Provincetown and has strong connections with Radio WOMR.

“He approached the executive director, putting forward the idea of featuring the home of the Mayflower in their plans for their Mayflower 400 commemorations.

“They got in touch with us and the festival programming committee saw this as a great opportunity to forge a transatlantic partnership between the two historic Mayflower towns.”

It is hoped this could be the beginning of further cultural and artistic links between the Harwich Festival and Provincetown.

Mr Davis said: “In these difficult times a lot of our output has gone online and now receives a much wider audience.

“This is a wonderful opportunity to share some of our guest performers’ work while contributing to the celebration of a historical event that is so important to our town.

“I look forward to future collaboration with our cultural partners across the water.”

The 90-minute programme will be aired on Radio WOMR on Wednesday.

It will also be streamed on the Harwich Festival website at a later date.

To find out more about the Harwich Festival, visit harwichfestival.co.uk or visit Radio WOMR’s website on womr.org.