THE organisation behind the restoration of a former Loch Lomond cruise boat which took part in the Dunkirk evacuations in 1940 is holding an open day this weekend to tell the ship’s story.
The Skylark IX Recovery Trust’s event is on Saturday, May 27 from 12-3.30pm at the Denny Tank Museum in Dumbarton.
The event will include demonstrations of Second World War hair and make-up, music from the era, a WW2 Jeep and Skylark memorabilia.
The annual Dunkirk Parade in memory of the evacuation – codenamed Operation Dynamo – is on May 28, from the Co-op car park in Balloch and marching to Jamestown Parish Church for a service at 11am.
Built in Poole, Dorset in 1927, Skylark was operated on Loch Lomond for 33 years, and her owner, John Sweeney of Sweeney’s Cruises, gave her services free to Dunkirk veterans once every year for their reunion on Loch Lomond.
Her wartime story as one of the Dunkirk 'Little Ships' was largely unknown until the man who commanded her in Poole in 1941, Charles Fairman, spotted a notice advertising cruises on Loch Lomond on board the ship in 1987.
The vessel was taken away for restoration in May 2016.
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