A LITTLE ship is preparing to sail back across the Channel to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the rescue of troops at Dunkirk.

Stenoa has helped to save lives as a lifeboat, to rescue troops in the evacuation of Dunkirk and has taken part in the Royal celebrations to mark the Queen's diamond jubilee.

Now she is being prepared to recreate history by sailing back to Dunkirk where, in 1940, she was one of the fleet of 700 private boats which sailed from Ramsgate to the coast of France to rescue more than 338,000 British and French soldiers trapped on the beaches.

Mary Anne Fedeyko said for the past 45 years, the boat has become a much-loved member of the family.

She said: “She was built in 1929 and from 1930 to 1959, she was in service as a lifeboat in New Haven.

“She was involved in the evacuation at Dunkirk in 1940 and saved 51 soldiers.

“She was rammed and almost cut in half, but managed to survive.

“After she was decommissioned, she served in the reserve fleet in lifeboat stations along the coast.

“My husband’s father, Oliver Dansie, bought her in 1969 when she was called the Cecil and Lillian Philpott.

“When they come out of service from the RNLI, you have to change their name.

“She was renamed Stenoa from the names of the family – Oliver, his wife, Anne, my husband, Tim, and his sisters Sarah and Elizabeth and brother Nicholas."

After the Stenoa became part of the family, Mr Dansie undertook the work of converting her.

He replaced the massive petrol engines with diesel ones and created a galley and sleeping areas.

Sails were introduced in 1999 and the boat was used by the family for trips along the picturesque Walton backwaters and beyond to the Suffolk coast and across to Holland.

Mary Anne, who heads up the commercial department of Colchester solicitors Thompson, Smith and Puxon, specialising in commercial and corporate law, said: “Every weekend when my girls were small, we would go down to the boat on a Friday night and sail it until Sunday night.

“My daugher, Susanna, was only two weeks old when she first went on her.

“I had Katherine and Claire too, all within three years, and the whole family would go on her every weekend of the season.”

In 2012, the Stenoa was one of the boats which took part in the Avenue of Sails on the River Thames as part of the Queen’s diamond jubilee celebrations.

Mary Anne said: “We were going to raise the sails but the weather was diabolical and we could not get the sails up.

“However, the whole procession came past us. We were in the thick of it.”

Now preparations are being made to sail Stenoa from Wivenhoe back to France to re-enact the heroic voyage by the little ships to rescue the soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk.

Mary Anne said: “We will all gather in Ramsgate and go across, depending on the weather.

“It is quite an amazing event.

“Myself and Tim, Susanna and Katherine will be on board as well as other members of the family.

“It will put a lot of meaning to the event and will remind us of the past.

“It makes you respect the boat.

It takes a lot of work and a lot of maintenance but it is really worthwhile keeping her intact.”

The 75th anniversary return to Dunkirk will be on May 21 to 25.

More than 50 little ships escorted by the RNLI and the Royal Navy are expected to take part in the voyage.