THE annual convention of the British Titanic Society begins today in Liverpool.

More than 100 delegates from the UK, Europe and the United States will meet in the city for a weekend of events marking the 96th anniversary of the tragedy.

Yesterday, members of the society met ahead of the start of the conference to lay a commemorative wreath at the engineers’ memorial at the Pier Head to remember those who died in the tragedy.

They laid the wreath at 12.05pm – the exact time to the day the Titanic set sail from Southampton in 1912.

The conference begins today and lasts until Sunday at the Liner Hotel. An exhibition on Saturday, which is open to the public, will display many items and memorabilia from the ship and an 8ft replica of the Titanic made entirely from matches.

Titanic experts will be on hand to answer questions, and there will be a series of lectures during the day. A series of events linked to the recently- opened Titanic exhibition are also taking place at Merseyside Maritime Museum throughout April. For more information visit liverpoolmuseums. org.uk