There are a fair few boats down at Heswall shore near Sheldrakes, and some of them appear to have been left to their own devices.

One of them, a little further out, may not automatically catch the eye as being exceptional, but it is - and it belongs to Wrexham couple Simon and Gemma Robins, and is far from abandoned.

Frequent visitors to the shore and those living nearby may have noticed that, thanks to the Robins and helpful friends and volunteers, this boat is being given a new lease of life.

To the untrained eye it looks like a pleasure craft of some kind, which indeed it was; but prior to conversion and the new name of Sarinda last century, this was a boat known as ML 1392 - a boat which took part in the D-Day Normandy landings of June 6 1944, helping guide the ships and landing craft of the invasion of France.

How Simon and Gemma came to own it is pretty extraordinary.

Says Gemma: "Buying a 72 foot 1943 World War Two boat was never planned. Simon loves restoring small boats as a hobby, so one Sunday night in January he was looking at boats for sale on eBay and stumbled across Sarinda, a D-Day survivor, and she was looking worse for wear.

"Simon shouted over to me to have a look at what he'd found, expecting me to tell him to stop being stupid. But I looked at the advert and something struck a chord. How can a boat that went through D-Day be left so unloved?"

The next day ML 1392 was still on their minds, so they arranged to go and visit, and within an hour they were on board. The scale of the boat and the amount of work needed was evident, but the couple left "with a fire in our hearts to save this piece of history."

During their visit the pair shot video, returned home, talked things over, and decided to buy and save ML 1392. Once the purchase was complete, they posted footage on youtube. The intention was to show family members what they were up to - lockdown travel restrictions were in place so none could visit.

Now things took an unexpected turn. Expecting just a handful of views by their nearest and dearest, the Robins turned out to have an embryonic channel on their hands which attracted eyeballs from around the world.

11 months into their project, the Ship Happens channel has over 44,000 subscribers and more than three million views.

The Robins family, including children, 13 year old Mason and ten year old Emilia, got stuck into work, coping with very difficult conditions. Just getting to the boat can be a chore, battling the weather and the Dee Estuary mud.

Gemma adds: "We are trying our best to carry out as much work as possible, while still working full time on our camper conversion business called Creation Campers, and raising two children. We haven't underestimated the size of the project, and the family knows it will take years of hard work and dedication.

"We don't have the resources to carry out all this project at the moment, so we are working and saving as much as possible, and we've even sold off a few things to help with the restoration costs.

"Simon's much loved motorbike he raced with the Wirral 100 was sold, and that has now put an end to his racing career so he can concentrate all his efforts into saving the boat."

A lot of work has already been done, including fitting a new off grid power system, including solar and wind power to give them all the juice they will need for the restoration work. They have made the boat watertight to protect her from any further fresh water damage, and structural repairs to the hull are ongoing. Their progress can be followed on their weekly YouTube episodes.

As the Robins persevere, they have a dream for ML 1392.

Gemma explains: "There is no long term plan for the boat, other than getting her fully restored, but the family would love to honour the boats of Coastal Forces past by carrying out the D-Day crossing on its 85th anniversary - in 2029."