All about Watermen's Hall

We visited Waterman’s Hall on Friday 5th June 2015 to participate in a range of activities. After a long journey year 6 settled into the hall accompanied by Peter Daniels, Sav and Matthew. Firstly, to help us understand the topic, we watched a video to give us an overview of the Thames Lightermen and Watermen project. After watching a video, we discussed the topic amongst ourselves then separated into groups. We went inside the Waterman’s Grand Hall where we met an actor called Will playing a lighterman called Bill Lindley, he told us all about the Lightermen’s and Watermen‘s trade and described what would happen when a nervous apprentice would meet the master of the Watermen. The final stage of an apprenticeship leads to the apprentice being honoured  for completing the apprenticeship of 7 years. The experience can be daunting at first but hopefully in the end you will pass the test or shame could be bought upon your family. 

In conclusion, we learnt many things about how the Watermen traded and the hard economic and social difficulties they faced. We had a brilliant experience we all learnt a lot and would love to come again.