A Brief History of the Eton Manor Boys' Club
Villiers Park Educational Trust has its roots in East London. It started life as The Manor Charitable Trust, which was set up to fund the Eton Manor Boys' Club (EMBC), a sports and social club established in Hackney Wick in the early years of the 20th century. EMBC was established, managed and paid for by a philanthropically-minded group of Old Etonians: Arthur Villiers, Gerald Wellesley, Alfred Wagg and Sir Edward Cadogan. The Eton Manor Boys' Club (EMBC) officially closed in 1967 but many members are still in contact with one another today. The rules stated that boys had to join between the ages of 14 and 16 years old. However, once admitted as members, the commitment might last a lifetime: an affiliated Eton Manor "Old Boys' club catered for the over-eighteens. For a nominal weekly subscription, boys and "Old Boys' had free access to everything the EMBC had to offer both in the purpose-built clubhouse in Riseholme Street, Hackney and on the clubs' own sports ground, the Wilderness (a vast, sporting nirvana developed on 30 acres of waste ground in Leyton in the 1920s). On the fringes of London's notoriously deprived East End, EMBC members were able to try out all kinds of sports and leisure activities. In comfortable surroundings, they enjoyed boxing, amateur dramatics, debating, drawing, first-aid, squash, tennis, football, cricket, rugby, billiards, table-tennis, photography, badminton, athletics and rifle-shooting
The EMBC Trustees used their wealth and connections to good effect: they brought top sportsmen over to East London to help out or hold exhibitions at the Club (Sir Alf Ramsey and Douglas Jardine assisted with the football and cricket teams respectively). To the left we see World Chess Champion Capablanca at the clubhouse in 1928 playing simultaneous games of chess against the boys. Because of the first rate facilities and the excellent instructors, Eton Manor had gained a reputation as an elite boys' sporting club by the mid-20th century. However, the club was not primarily about sporting excellence. Membership of EMBC gave boys from ordinary backgrounds the chance to enjoy a wide variety of sports and games in a safe, spacious and congenial environment. Some members were helped out with guidance or advice to assist them in their careers. Others were given introductions in the City to the same purpose (both Arthur Villiers and Alfred Wagg were bankers). A few members were offered interest-free loans to start businesses or supplied with low-rent accommodation to enable them to save money to buy their own homes. But most important of all, members were provided with an Eton Manor "family': the friendships they struck up as boys during happy evenings at the clubhouse, at the Club Summer Camp or over sunny week-end afternoons on the Wilderness often lasted for a lifetime. In 1946 when reforming following WW2 the club purchased a set of metal posts, at that time it was understood to be one of only three sets of metal posts in the UK. The other sets being those at Cardiff Arms Park and Murrayfield. With the move to its present home along with the kind permission of the LVRPA, the posts were lifted and re-installed on the first team pitch at Nutter Lane and are still currently in use.
