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BNPS.co.uk (01202 558833)<br />
Pic: MattCain/BNPS<br />
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Taking shape...<br />
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A lifeboat which was present at Dunkirk is set to sail there on the 80th anniversary of the mass evacuation after being painstakingly restored.<br />
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The Lady of Mann was lifeboat number eight on board the passenger ship RMS Lady of Mann, which brought 4,262 men back to England in May 1940.<br />
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It was also on the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company vessel when it carried six landing craft, 55 officers and 435 troops to Juno Beach on D-Day in June 1944.<br />
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After the ship was broken up in 1971, the 27ft lifeboat was sold off and converted into a fishing boat which operated out of Maldon, Essex. It had been languishing in a rotting, dilapidated state in an Essex boatyard when IT manager Matt Cain paid £3,000 for it in 2009 after spotting it for sale online.<br />
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The boat sank at its mooring in Windsor, Berks, during the floods of February 2014. Since then, Mr Cain, whose grandfather was evacuated at Dunkirk, has spent over £30,000 returning it to its former glory.