I gave a short talk on Monday morning about George & Richard Green to 50 six and seven years olds who had obviously done a lot of preparation and many had written out questions for me! They were very keen to know about Richard Green’s three Newfoundland dogs that always accompanied him around the Blackwall Yard and they had researched “Challenger”, a clipper design, that Richard and his brother Henry had built in 1852 to beat the bigger American clippers at the China tea trade. Those two particular topics were anticipated as the statue of Richard Green outside Poplar Baths in the East India Dock Road features “Hector”, his favourite dog, and a bas relief of “Challenger”! All went well, helped by a few pictures from my collection that a teacher, Teresa Ward, had loaded onto the whiteboard.  Photo attached shows Liveryman Green (correctly dressed with his Shipwrights’ tie) and the Mayflower School audience plus a Green house flag from the family’s Blackwall Line!   I have just received a giant envelope with a thank you card from each one of them – brilliant.

Jonathan Green