Eton Manor is a former name for a sports and leisure venue in Leyton, London Borough of Waltham Forest. It is the northernmost venue of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and remains as a permanent venue as part of the 2012 Olympic legacy, separated from the rest of the park by the A12 road. It is now known as Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre and is made up of four indoor and six outdoor tennis courts and two state-of-the art hockey pitches. During the 2012 Summer Olympics, Eton Manor housed temporary training pools for participants in aquatics events, including three 50m pools for swimmers, and smaller pools for synchronised swimmers and water polo competitors. For the 2012 Summer Paralympics it hosted the wheelchair tennis, with nine competition courts and four courts for warm-up. There were a total of 10,500 seats for spectators, with a 5,000-capacity centre court. The site covers within Lee Valley Regional Park and is owned and run by Lee Valley Regional Park Authority. Conversion work started after the end of the London 2012 Paralympic Games and Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre was opened to the public on 21 June 2014. A range of events and programmes, from grassroots to elite are held at the venue.
History
Eton Manor takes its name from Eton College, which from the 1880s had run a "mission" to raise living standards in the East End of London. In 1909 four Old Etonian philanthropists founded Eton Manor Boys' Club to provide sporting facilities in the Hackney area, purchasing the former Manor Farm in 1913. In 1920 an old rubbish tip site was converted into the Club's new sports ground, known as The Wilderness. Facilities included nine football pitches, two rugby pitches, cricket pitches, six tennis courts, a bowling green, a squash court and a running track. Eton Manor Boys' Club closed in 1967 and the Club ground fell into disuse in 2001 before being selected for use during the 2012 Olympic Games. The charitable trust set up in 1924 to run and support Eton Manor Boys' Club still continues with different aims and a new name, Villiers Park Educational Trust. Four sports clubs originating from Eton "mission" are still in existence:
Eton Manor F.C., now groundshare and are playing their matches at Waltham Abbey's ground in Waltham Abbey
Eton Manor A.C., meeting at Waltham Forest Track and Pool in Walthamstow and The Cottage, Marsh Lane, in Leyton
Eastern Otters Water Polo Club who currently play at the new Becontree Heath Leisure Centre in Dagenham
Eton College has a second connection to the 2012 Olympic Games, as the rowing events were held at the College's private facility, Dorney Lake.
Post-Olympics
After the Olympic Games, Eton Manor will house the scaled down Olympic Hockey Centre relocated from further south in the Olympic Park. The new venue is called Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre and is run by Lee Valley Regional Park Authority. It will be made up of two hockey pitches and ten tennis courts, four indoor and six outdoor. The venue will offer a range of events and programmes from grassroots to elite level. In 2010, the board of England Hockey put in a bid to host the Men's and Women's World Cups at the same time in 2014, but the competitions were awarded to The Hague, with the FIH promising London a chance to hold an event in 2015 or 2016. The venue will host the 2015 EuroHockey Nations Championships. Wapping Hockey Club secured anchor tenancy at the Olympic Legacy Facility following its opening in June 2014. In December 2012 the International Tennis Federation announced that the venue would stage the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters on its indoor courts.
