Former Norfolk lifeboat Lucy Lavers, which took part in the Dunkirk evacuation, was relaunched at Wells today.

Wendy Pritchard, trustee of the Rescue Wooden Boats charity which restored her, said it was an emotional moment for all connected with her return to the sea, as she rolled down the slipway.

'She went in at a quarter to seven, up at the East End Quay and there was quite a little crowd there,' she said. 'Some of her former crew were there and lots of other interested people. The engine started and off she went.'

Ms Pritchard said the remainder of the day would be spent rigging her masts up and rigged, and testing her engine.

'She seems to be dry, not leaking,' she added. 'There's just a little burp from the pump every now and then.

'She hasn't been in the water for 20 years, it's very impressive. Everything seems to be going all-right.'

Stiffkey boat builders David and George Hewitt have spent around two years restoring Lucy Lavers, helped by Ben Riches and Tom Gathercole.

She was completed in 1940 and became the Aldeburgh lifeboat. Her first rescue was taking part in the Dunkirk evacuation almost 75 years ago.

The 35ft wooden vessel was also used as a relief lifeboat at Wells and Lowestoft, before being retired by the RNLI in 1968, when she became a pilot boat in the Channel Islands.

In 1997 she was retired and largely stripped for the restoration of another lifeboat, but her mahogany hull was transferred to the Dunkirk Little Ships Restoration Trust.

She was tracked down by David Hewitt and Graeme Peart who had been looking for her for some while because of their interest in her local service. In 2010, the Dunkirk Little Ships Restoration Trust kindly donated Lucy Lavers to Graeme Peart who passed her on to Rescue Wooden Boats.

The Norfolk charity plans to sail her to Dunkirk, to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the evacuation, before she returns to Wells, to become a floating heritage attraction.