Moored at Gillingham Pier, there’s a boat which has an astonishing history: the paddle steamer the Medway Queen. In the 1920s and 30s she transported thousands of holidaymakers from the Medway towns for day trips to resorts like Sheerness and Margate, Clacton and Southend. But when the Second World War came she was transformed into a minesweeper, and then in 1940 crisscrossed the Channel to Dunkirk seven times in seven days, saving over 7000 Allied troops, becoming one of the stars of the flotilla of Little Ships.

In this episode we talk to Alan Cook, whose grandfather was the captain on those perilous Dunkirk crossings, and meet the inspirational volunteers of the Medway Queen Preservation Society, who from the 1980s have worked tirelessly to turn the wreck she had become into the gloriously renovated boat we can visit today. And during the celebrations on the actual day of her 100th birthday we hear from Admiral Lord West and ask, Will the Medway Queen ever be able to head back into open waters under her own steam?

Find out how you can visit this historic, heroic paddle steamer at https://www.medwayqueen.co.uk/

With thanks to the City of Rochester Society for supporting this podcast. Find out more about their work at city-of-rochester.org.uk

We Did it Medway is presented by Rob Flood and Philip Dodd. It is produced and edited by Suze Cooper of Big Tent Media, with assistance from Emily Crosby Media.

The We Did It Medway music is written and performed by Chris Weller (Staggered Ray), Rob Shepherd (Singing Loins) and Vicky Price (Ashen Keys) with lyrics by Philip Dodd.

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