Two volunteers from Ramsgate’s RNLI found themselves on the red carpet, having swapped their sea gear for smart.

Coxswain Ian Cannon, along with his daughter, crew member Becky Cannon, were among special guests at the world premiere for the new film Dunkirk at Leicester Square last week.

This was due to their family connections to the event which inspired the new film about one of the greatest rescues of World War Two.

Ian’s great-great-uncle Alf Moody was part of the RNLI Ramsgate lifeboat crew which rescued more than 2,000 men from the beaches at Dunkirk in 1940 as part of Operation Dynamo.

Seventeen RNLI vessels were taken over to Dunkirk by the Navy, but only the boats from Ramsgate and Margate went with their own crews on board.

The Margate crew took around 600 men off the beaches, while the Ramsgate crew, having worked continuously for 30 hours, rescued around 2,800 men.

Howard Knight, the then coxswain of the Ramsgate lifeboat Prudential, later recalled the moment he informed his crew of their mission.

He, at the time, said: “We are going over the other side to fetch our boys off I told them.

“Not one of them hesitated.”

The film, written and directed by Christopher Nolan, had its world premiere at the Odeon Leicester Square on Thursday, July 13.

Popular Facebook page LADbible featured Becky in a short video, to celebrate the release of the film ahead of its release.

The 17-year-old is one of the RNLI’s youngest recruits, having joined in April this year on her birthday.

Since then she has been on four callouts and is a student at St George’s School, Broadstairs.

Dunkirk is out in cinemas today.