Teddington Lock officially reopened yesterday (Wednesday, 14 May) after nearly two years of extensive repairs to the suspension footbridge and the lockcut iron truss footbridge were being carried out.

The repairs were officially completed in March this year.

However, the reopening follows urgent maintenance work, which threatened possible disruption to the 85th anniversary of Operation Dynamo or flotilla.

The anniversary event will see many Dunkirk 'little ships' travelling through Teddington Lock to Ramsgate over the next few days.

It marks 85 years since more than a third of a million soldiers were rescued from Dunkirk by a fleet of 'little ships'. 

Five of the ships, Thamesa, White Marlin, Gentle Ladye, Papillon, and Fedelma 11 are being docked at their birth place of Teddington Marina.