8 !e Hackney Wick east end jewel – eton manor boys club by francesca weber-newth

here is a myth about this corner many years and boundless energy to his mark that the outlook of the boys had UK borders. When Eton Manor Boys insight into the power of place and of the East End. In the trenches beloved Club, he died on the grounds in been transformed. were %ghting in World War Two, Villiers the connection between the boys and of World War One, a soldier 1969, aged 86. Peter ‘Wiggy’ Wilson, now aged 65, is would post them individual letters and their landscape. It seems the e#orts asks his neighbour: ‘So what Villiers never married and had no one of those former Boys who shows-o# sent copies of Chin Wag - the monthly of the founders, to create a functional is this Hackney Wick famous children, but many former Eton Boys his Eton Manor smile. !ere is a sense Eton Manor magazine - to outposts as and beautiful place for the Hackney for?’ !e reply came ‘Fleas, "ies, recall his role as ‘father’ to all the Eton of East End pride. He joined the Club far as Cairo and Baghdad. !is was a Wick boys, has seen success, if we are to kids and Clarnico’s Jam’ Manorites. Within Villiers’ own story, in 1959, aged 14, a few months a$er way for the boys to keep in touch with measure success by emotional response Hackney Wick is set to appear on the the signi%cance of place and spirit of the o&cial admission age of 13 years their friends in Hackney and around the and sense of belonging. global map next year – sitting alongside the people who lived in !e Wick 11 months. Wiggy talks of the absolute world, and acted as a reminder of the the Olympic park when it opens in becomes palpable. !is Old Etonian commitment that the founders of the home they had waiting on their return. Down on the Wilderness 2012. Tourism, spectacle and their didn’t want to leave. Club showed the boys. “Villiers was Camaraderie was a central code of the No place for wavy or stylish dress eventual successor - regeneration – are Eton College was the %rst of the nicknamed ‘Soapy’ because he would Boys Club. Any old clothes your form may grace expected to make !e Wick sparkle. public schools to set up a ‘mission’ in buy industrial quantities of soap. When According to Wiggy, the Boys at Eton Long as you come with a smiling face Rewind to the 1890s and Hackney London. It was to provide ‘gentleman’s’ it arrived at the clubhouse, he’d chop it Manor were so smart and well liked and Green grass and glorious air Wick was on an altogether di#erent company’ as well as practical and up and give the boys a few pieces each. had such good manners that many girls Blimey it’s %t for a millionaire map. It was Charles Booth’s poverty %nancial assistance to improve the in the area were keen to marry an Eton !ere’s every delight that a man map, in which each road in London was prospects of the poor. In the early days, when eton manor Manor Boy. !e Brook%eld Manor Girls may possess coloured to represent the social class of the mission and Boys Club were part Club was dubbed ‘the marriage buro’ as On our wonderful Wilderness its inhabitants. !e businessman-cum- of a joint endeavour. A dispute within boys were !ghting in a consequence of the high success rate of sociologist showed that Victorian cities the mission resulted in a split. !e world war two, villiers the love-matches between the members Bearing in mind these powerful were overcrowded and bleak, with a mission was keen to build a church would post them of the two clubs. emotional associations, the world-class third of Londoners living in poverty. tower to mark the success of its large Sport was an important part of the facilities and the commitment of the On Booth’s map, the streets of Hackney congregation, at a cost of £10,000. individual letters and Eton Manor ethos. Olympic gold founders, it is di&cult to imagine the Wick are dark blue; characterised by Gerald Wellesley believed the money sent copies of chin medallist boxer Harry Mallin was a local demise of Eton Manor Boy’s Club. !e ‘casual earnings and chronic want’. !is would be better spent on facilities that Hackney Wick boy and trained at Eton beginning of the end was the building was a time when fear of "eas, "ies and had a more direct e#ect on the Boys. It wag - the monthly eton Manor. On ‘!e Wilderness’ sports of the A12 dual carriageway in 1968, the workhouse were prevalent. Bounded was from this quarrel that ‘Eton Manor’ manor magazine - to ground, the boys were able to train with which saw the demolition of the much- by the railway on one side, the marshes, Boys Club was born - o&cially splitting outposts as far as cairo the best facilities. !e height of this was factories and canal on the other, the from the Church mission in 1909. !e Villiers’ purchase of the 1948 Olympic ‘down the wilderness’ area formed a bowl that housed some defectors could start their own Boys and baghdad. athletics track, brought to !e Wick 6,000 of the most deprived people in was the eton manor London. But in amongst the poverty and song. peter ‘wiggy’ industrial pollution, there was something in Hackney Wick that sparkled – it was wilson’s eyes well up called Eton Manor Boys Club. !e Club when he reads the lines. took its name from Eton College, whose former students came to Hackney to 40 years on the words help the poor. still have resonance. Today critics question whether !e Wick will be able to foster a community loved clubhouse and ‘!e Wilderness’ feel within the new Olympic landscape. sports ground split into two. Without In contrast, community spirit and a central place to congregate, the Club sense of ‘place’ was something that lost its appeal. !is came alongside thrived during the Eton Manor Boys other social changes, improvements in days. 44 years a$er the closure of the social conditions, cheap holidays abroad, Club in 1967, many of the ‘Old Boys’ mods and the rockers and cheap popular remain friends and still talk fondly of entertainment. Perhaps there was less ‘those days’. Perhaps there is a lesson to need for a club, with absolute poverty be learnt. not the central problem it had been. It must have been an extraordinary Eton Manor has now vanished from sight. Eton College Boys, members of the physical landscape. On o&cial the most privileged families in Britain, 2012 Olympic maps !e Club lives were living amongst the poorest East on, in name. A small parcel of land, Enders. !ese Eton Boys came to formerly ‘!e Wilderness’, has been Hackney Wick to teach the local named Eton Manor. !e area will have boys values of leadership, comradeship temporary training pools and will and respect. host the wheelchair tennis matches Four ex-Etonians came to Hackney during the Paralympic Games. With Wick in their early twenties and founded ‘legacy’ the buzzword for all things the Club. !ey were Gerald Wellesley, Olympic, here is a tangible legacy that Arthur Villiers, Edward Cadogan and the Olympics could seize. !e common Alfred Wagg. Wellesley wrote in 1909 denominators – sporting excellence, “!e Boys’ Club is run for the very friendly competition and sustainable roughest class of working boy. It is not social bene%ts – could provide the ideal so much that the appearance of the Boys point of convergence. themselves has altered in any appreciable Undoubtedly the sporting heroes of degree, as that an atmosphere of order today will never know the signi%cance and self-respect has grown in the Club.” the place holds for !e Wick. It is unlikely that the Olympic athletes will he is described as Club, but the mission stipulated ‘not !en he sent them onto the streets to from Wembley stadium. Not only was ever %nd out that the poorest boys from dressing ‘like a tramp’ in my parish!’ In an act of de%ance, knock on doors and sell the soap for the track installed for the Eton Manor Hackney Wick could train on the 1948 Wellesley moved the Club to St tuppence. !e earnings would be their boys to use, but it was also the %rst track Olympic track, which a philanthropist and living a simple life Augustine’s, the parish next door. pocket money,” he says. in the UK to boast "ood lighting. !e from Eton College bought over to this on the club grounds. In the following years the modest Although there was a lower age limit, story goes, that Villiers had been visiting corner of the East End. clubhouse, which %rst opened above a there was no upper limit as the Club was Italy and seen the leaning tower of Pisa. Peter ‘Wiggy’ Wilson wants Tom he also drove his rolls coal shop would be replaced. A state- committed to help the boys throughout Rather than marvel at this architectural Daley and Usain Bolt to realise the royce around Hackney of-the-art clubhouse, designed by the their lives. Villiers in particular was feat, he was curious about how the connection. However, he remains architect Harry Goodhart-Rendell, committed to the long-term prospects structure was lit at night. He was philosophical about the loss of Eton wick and displayed a was built in 1913. Over the years, the of the boys. He would help them %nd inspired by the concept and installed Manor and the changing landscape. mouth full of gold teeth. founders bought an additional 33-acres jobs, setting up placements with his "oodlighting at the Eton Manor “Hackney Wick for me is now like a of land to create what became known as contacts in the city. He bought houses athletics track. In doing so leading phoenix rising from the ashes. But, Arthur Villiers, o$en cited as having ‘!e Wilderness’. !is well-loved sports for the boys and their families, and even amateur athletes were attracted to the what its success does depend on, is the most enduring commitment to the ground housed, amongst other things, a paid for the wedding of a young couple Club, able to train night and day. community.” His words are saturated Club, arrived in Hackney Wick when swimming pool, tennis courts, a bowling when the groom returned from the A quirky sporting legacy from the with hope. Hope that the sustained he was 24. He never le$. He was son green, cricket pitches and an athletics war. Like a veritable Lord of the Manor, Boys Club is the motto UP THE e#orts of the Eton Boys to e#ect change of the 7th Earl of Jersey, heir to vast track – facilities the boys of Hackney Villiers shaped the fabric of Hackney MANOR! - chanted by the supporters and support a community will provide a landed wealth, but also made his money Wick wouldn’t have even dreamt about. Wick, with the Club playing a central at the sidelines. Former Eton Manor lesson for those who want to ‘regenerate’ as an investment banker - as director of !e Club provided a mix of sport, role within the community. Boy, Peter Wilson still proudly signs o# Hackney Wick today. Barings bank. He was an eccentric man, philanthropy and social improvement !is sense of community extended all his emails UTM [Up !e Manor]. !e legacy of the London 2012 his appearance perhaps re"ecting the to the boys of Hackney Wick. !ose further than the East End. Cuckoo Weir, A sign that although the Club shut Games, we have to hope, will not be the contradictions of his life. He is described less keen on sports could take up chess, Eton College’s swimming facility near it doors in 1967, it remains alive in West%eld shopping centre. We have to as dressing ‘like a tramp’ and living a drama classes or even learn %rst-aid. Windsor, was made available for the memory of its former members. hope that the Games will not just prove simple life on the Club grounds. He also Perhaps testament that the Club boys of Hackney Wick and many would ‘Down the Wilderness’ was the Eton to be a major theatrical staging that drove his Rolls Royce around Hackney provided much more than material spend summers there, taking part in Manor song. Peter ‘Wiggy’ Wilson’s signals the ‘death of content’. We have Wick and displayed a mouth full of gold improvements was the famous Eton timetabled sports, camping and singing. eyes well up when he reads the lines. 40 to hope that the Games will represent teeth. He poured much of his wealth Manor smile – a character trait that !e founders also went to great years on the words still have resonance. some continuum with the old East End into Eton Manor and survived !e Blitz represented the optimistic spirit of the pains to ensure that the Manorites !ey remind him of days of enjoyment, panache and Eton Manor Boys Club’s while in residence there. A$er dedicating Manorites. !e smile was a visceral retained their close ties, even beyond playing on the %elds. !ey provide an spirit of community. !e Hackney Wick 9

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Chinwag Cartoon, 1929