Hailed as the Heroine of Dunkirk, the Medway Queen has earned a place in the history books as the paddle-steamer which rescued thousands of allied troops on the beaches of northern France during the Second World War.

Now the grand old lady, whose illustrious past has also seen her serve as a floating nightclub and pleasure trip ferry, is this year celebrating her 100th birthday.

To commemorate the centenary, a documentary tracing back her history is being premiered at Canterbury Christ Church University, Chatham Maritime, on Wednesday (March 13).

She is moored nearby at Gillingham Pier where a band of volunteers have spent decades restoring her to her former glory and have successfully bid for millions of pounds of funding to pay for it.

The hour-long film charts her construction in a Scottish shipyard, her busy life as a commercial vessel, and her heroic wartime service to her extensive repairs on the banks of the Medway.

Kent-based filmmaker Peter Williams has produced and directed the movie which is partially dramatised around first-hand evidence of who sailed on her and were rescued by her.

Proceeds will go to the Medway Queen Preservation Society whose members have contributed to the docufilm. It hits the screen at 7pm.

The historic vessel was one of more than a thousand “little ships” which crossed and re-crossed the English Channel in 1940 to pick up about 300,000 military personnel as the Germans closed in on the coastal ports during the fall of France.

Sir Winston Churchill said at the time: “The Battle of France is now over. The Battle of Britain is about to begin.”

The boat, which is said to have made seven perilous voyages, was led by Capt A T Cook with First Lieut John Graves as his second-in-command.

Capt Cook’s log of the historic event is held in the Royal Naval Archives in Portsmouth.

Dan Coles, an award-winning amateur actor from Whitstable, took on the captain’s role.

He said: “I felt a lot of pressure to give my absolute best as my grandparents and great-grandparents served in the Second World War as nurses, volunteers in the Observer Corps and especially, of course, at Dunkirk.

“I hope I’ve done all the heroes involved in the Medway Queen’s story proud and cannot wait to see it.”

The Medway Queen was launched in 1924 and entered service on Thames Estuary routes in May of that year.

After the war she returned to her old route until 1963. From 1966 until 1974 she was a nightclub in the Isle of Wight.

The hull rebuild was undertaken in Bristol with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the European Regional Development Fund and completed in late 2013.

The ship has recently undergone repairs in Ramsgate but is now at her berth at Gillingham Pier where she is open to the public and for hire for meetings and special occasions.

The flim is being shown at Rowan Williams Court, Canterbury Christ Church University, 36 Pembroke Court, Chatham Maritime. Chatham.

Tickets are £10 for adults and £5 for children. The venue is open from 6pm to 9pm. Tickets are available through Eventbrite here.

There will be a Q&A with the director at the end of the performance.