It has been more than 40 years coming but this week a portrait of Porthleven war hero Guy Gibson finally returned home.

The portrait, in its original damaged form and a replacement copy, was presented to Porthleven Town Council by its Helston counterpart on Saturday, along with memorabilia including a shield from Wing Commander Gibson’s 617 Squadron and a photo of the German dam they attacked during the Second World War in the infamous Dam Busters raid.

The items were received by Porthleven’s deputy mayor Barbara Powell, on behalf of the town council and mayor Daniel Williams, who was unable to attend through illness.

She thanked Helston Town Council for transferring the ownership to Porthleven and said how proud the port and council were of WC Gibson and the part he played in the war.

Helston mayor Mike Thomas told Porthleven’s councillors how pleased he was to be part of the council that |returned the portrait and other memorabilia to the port.

He also shared information given to him by Olivia Blake, a former of West Cornwall School in Penzance where the original painting began hanging, and where WC Gibson was also former pupil.

In 1967, when the school was closed, the portrait was gifted to the then Helston Borough Council, which incorporated Porthleven, operating between 1934 and 1973.

It remained in Helston the borough council split into separate Helston and Porthleven town councils.

The painting was ripped in the 1990s, when a group of rogue naval ratings climbed scaffolding on the Guildhall during maintenance work and broke in. At the time it was deemed irreparable.

An artist in Holland, where WC Gibson was killed when his plane was shot down in 1944, volunteered to provide a copy of the original, which was then gifted to Helston Town Council.

Mr Thomas said: “It was nice to be part of the council that was giving this to Porthleven.

“When the borough council came to an end I think that particular council should have helped Porthleven set itself up as a town council and gifted it to them. For reasons best known to that council at the time, they felt they couldn’t.

“There wasn’t really a great deal of knowledge about how significant Guy Gibson was.”

He added that the town councillors |who received the copy in the 90s could |then have given that to Porthleven, but again did not.

“But this council felt differently about it. We felt the painting rightly belongs to Porthleven,” said Mr Thomas.

The position left empty in the Helston mayor’s parlour has been filled with |an aerial photograph of Helston, taken |by an RNAS Culdrose helicopter crew |and gifted by retiring commander Captain Mark Garrett.