A flotilla of 'Little Ships' will pass along the Thames in mid-May, before sailing on to Dunkirk.
This year marks 85 years since more than a third of a million soldiers were rescued from Dunkirk by a fleet of 'little ships'. Dubbed Operation Dynamo, the evacuation was largely carried out in ordinary, non-military boats, whose crews braved high seas and enemy fire to rescue British and Allied forces from the Nazi advance.
Many of those plucky vessels survive. Every five years, the Association of Dunkirk Little Ships (ADLS) organises a commemorative crossing, in which large numbers of boats once again journey across the Channel.
2025 will be the first such crossing in 10 years, thanks to the pandemic spoiling things in 2020. This year's event will include over 70 little ships, the largest flotilla since the original one of 1940.
The boats will assemble in Ramsgate in Kent from 17 May before setting off for festivities in Dunkirk on 21 May. However, Londoners will get a chance to see many of the participants without going far.
The Upper and Middle Thames Flotilla will sail downriver to Teddington on Wednesday 14 May then on into London at various times over the next two days. Many of the boats will shelter in St Katharine Docks on 15-16 May, before progressing to Ramsgate.
It's a rare and important gathering, which gives us a tangible link to what Churchill called a "miracle of deliverance".
