The venue will hold 10,500 visitors as the watch teams compete for Olympic medals on the site’s distinctive blue tennis courts.
With the completion of the site Eton Manor is rapidly making the sporting news, so we thought we would take a short look back at the venues history...
The site takes its name from Eton College, one of the most upper-class schools in the United Kingdom. Prime Minister David Cameron was a former pupil at this all-boys school as well eighteen other ex pupils who went on to being a PM. The school was originally set up to give the East End of London a better reputation. Years before the residents of Albert Square lowered the standards dramatically!
In 1913 four Eton pupils decided to purchase Manor Farm – which just goes to show how rich the families were! The boys transformed the farm into the Eton Manor Boy’s Club, seven years later in 1920 a rubbish tip on the site was transformed into a sports ground which was known as The Wilderness.
1924 saw the launch of a trust to support the Club, the organisation is still running today under the name of Villiers Park Educational Trust.
One of the initial reasons why the trust changed its name was probably down to what occurred in 1967, The Eton Manor Boys’ Club closed its doors for the very last time and the building became a derelict site and one which was unlikely to be restored.
However, in 2001 Eton Manor was chosen to host a sporting event for the 2012 Olympics and after a huge restoration plan the brand new manor was finally completed last week.
The future for the Manor looks positive as well, after the games are over Eton Manor will become the Olympic Hockey Centre proving once and for all the four lads who bought a farm almost a hundred years ago made an historic investment for the British sporting world.
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