BEER that kept British troops fighting on the beaches during the Second World War will again be drunk in France in a tradition revived by a brewery close to Sir Winston Churchill's Kentish home of Chartwell.

Barrels of British Bulldog bitter will accompany an expeditionary forced to commemorate the evacuation of Dunkirk. The beer was named with Churchill in mind.

Westerham Brewery, which makes the beer, has inherited tradition and brewing recipes from the old Black Eagle Brewery, popular for its Westerham Ales from 1723 until it went out of business in 1965.

"Westerham beer was dropped to the troops from Spitfires during the Normandy Landings in 1944," said Robert Wicks, who runs Westerham Brewery, at Grange Farm, Crockham Hill, Edenbrige.

"It was poured into auxiliary fuel tanks - presumably ones that hadn't been used - and they bombed the beaches with them."

Black Eagle's legendary brewer Bill Wickett played a major role in the North African campaign by setting up a brewery in Egypt to keep troops supplied.

Dubbed "the beer that biffed Rommel" it won praise from Montgomery himself, who said two things won the war in North Africa, the Battle of El Alamein and Bill Wicket's beer.

Westerham Brewery plans to continue the tradition by providing free beer for the men and women of Dunkirk Dynamo, who will head for France aboard a Norfolk Line ferry on Thursday May 27 to commemorate the evacuation.

The project involves a small army of volunteers, accompanied by around 20 historic military vehicles of the type used at the outbreak of the Second World War. (photo: Andy Robertshaw with a 1939 Morris 8cwt destined for Dunkirk)

Among the volunteers are veterans of the World War Two, military re-enactors, serving soldiers, young people dedicated to learning about the War, historians and many others. Some of them will spend the night aboard Dunkirk rescue vessels owned by members of the Association of Dunkirk Little Ships.

They will be fed by chefs from the Royal Logistic Corps who will establish an authentic field kitchen providing the kind of food available to fighting soldiers of the 1940s.

Over the weekend May 29-30 the party will host a British evening for their French hosts, at which British Bulldog beer will be freely available.

In July the entire Dunkirk Dynamo project will create a display at the War and Peace Show

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For further information contact Robert Wicks, Westerham Brewery, 01732 864427 or Andrew Robertshaw (Dunkirk Dynamo) on 01252 833371.