Messaging system

A messaging system comprising: a portable communication device capable of wirelessly receiving text messages over a telephony network; a telephony device capable of communicating with the telephony network to send text messages to the portable communication device, and including a local signal receiver for receiving signals over a local wireless communication medium; and a monitoring unit comprising a monitoring device capable of detecting an event and configured to generate a paging initiation signal when the event is detected; and a short-range wireless signal transmitter responsive to the paging initiation signal to transmit a message triggering signal indicative of the event to the telephony device over the local wireless communication medium; the telephony device being arranged to transmit a text message indicative of the event to the portable communication device in response to receiving the message triggering signal from the triggering unit.