An historic boat that went from escorting Arctic convoys in the Second World War to carrying visitors across Rudyard Lake is being restored for part of a fascinating upcoming exhibition.

Rudyard Lake are restoring their former trip-boat 'Honey' as part of an innovative new exhibition with funding from the Co-op.

The exhibition, which will be called 'Honey Lives On', will see the boat restored and placed on a cradle by the lake, allowing visitors to once again board the vessel. Inside, there will be displays on the boat's varied and intriguing history over the decades.

Honey was the Captain's launch on HMS Obdurate, an O-class destroyer in the Royal Navy, from 1942 to 1966, seeing action in the North Atlantic Convoys and the Arctic Convoys in the Second World War.

The destroyer was involved in the thick of the fighting on several occasions - in December 1942, while on escort for a convoy, she was attacked and damaged by the German heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper, and in January 1944, she was also torpedoed and damaged by a German U-boat.

In the 1960s the destroyer was retired and sold for scrap, but Honey eventually found its way into the hands of a private buyer before being bought by Rudyard Lake in 2004.

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Ray Perry, Chairman of the Rudyard Lake Trust, told Nub News: "We were looking for a new trip boat, and we spotted it for sale second hand after a gentleman had bought it and restored it.

"It carried thousands of passengers around the lake for years, but in 2019 we discovered that rot had developed on the hull and we had to retire it."

The lake was then left without a trip boat until 2021, when they were able to afford a new one thanks to crowdfunding.

Ray spoke more about the upcoming exhibition, saying: "We have now put a planning application in and we are hoping to get it up and running by early in the New Year.

"We have worked out what needs to be done, and we now know that the electronic displays can be powered using solar panels.

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"I'd like to thank the Co-op for their support and for being very patient while we have been working on it, because we can now make it into a display rather than losing it."

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