‘Up the Manor!’ has been a rallying cry across the playing fields and parks of east London for nearly a century.

Eton Manor Boy’s Club opened its doors above a coal shop in 1908 offering deprived youngsters an escape from the grinding poverty of their everyday lives through sports and recreation.

Its philanthropic founders included war hero Arthur Villiers whose first memory of the club was ‘a much harassed caretaker combing from his whiskers the mud his charges has been pelting him with.’ He also noted his wayward boys delight in dropping bags of flour on the heads of unsuspecting visitors and blowing down the gas pipes so the building was periodically plunged into darkness.

The club proved popular with activities including athletics, boxing, cricket, football and swimming as well as weekend camping and educational trips staying in the stately grounds of fellow philanthropists like Sir Edward Cadogan Non-sporting types could choose the less physical pursuits of chess, amateur dramatics and the debating society.

The hub of this activity would later become The Wilderness, a huge area of reclaimed wasteland in Leyton which now forms part of the new Olympic Park.

The Wilderness comprised more than 30 acres of painstakingly levelled playing fields bounded by the railway, the River Lea and Hackney Marshes.

It included cricket, football and rugby pitches, tennis courts, a bowling green, swimming pool, canteen, clubhouse and changing rooms.

Pride of place went to the running track which was used in the 1948 Olympic Games at Wembley. The track, which was taken up after the games and re-laid in east London, echoed to the footfall of some of the greatest Olympians including the ‘Flying Housewife’ Fanny Blankers-Koen who won four gold medals.

Manor boy Les Golding also had the honour of carrying the Olympic torch as part of the relay of athletes who traditionally carry the flame to its new home.

The Wilderness went on to host the first floodlit athletics meetings in the country drawing large crowds to its evening meetings.

A number of champions rose from the club’s fiercely competitive ranks including European Welterweight Boxing Champion Nicky Gargano and Olympic gold medallist Harry Mullin.

Gargano remembered telling his trainer that he needed to strengthen his arms so was sent to the tree filled garden at the back of the clubhouse.

“I used to chop down these trees and ruined their garden at the back,” he recalled.

The football and cricket teams weren’t bad either. A young coach called Alf Ramsey showed the players a thing or two in their meteoric rise through the amateur leagues, while England Cricket captain Derek Jardine helped out in the nets The boys also proved as able in water as on land and the aptly named Eton Otters became one of the country’s best swimming clubs with members toughening themselves up in the bracing waters of the River Lea.

The club’s reputation was such that several world champions dropped in to share their skills including chess master Jose Capablanca who played 20 simultaneous games with club members and table tennis wizard Richard Bergmann.

The boys were strongly encouraged to manage their own affairs. They sat on the club’s numerous sporting committees, set up a savings bank and produced a monthly magazine called Chinwag. The do-it-yourself attitude extended to the club having its own trained first-aiders on hand during events and drama and music groups that regularly put on shows for the local community.

The camaraderie and community spirit instilled in the boys was reflected in the number who served during both world wars as far afield as Africa and the Far East.

Many took strength from their time at the club saying memories of those care free days on the wide sun-basked expanse of the Wilderness helped them through the bad times.

Latest copies of the Chinwag were regularly posted abroad along with food parcels and local history archives still have poignant reminders of letters sent home to friends and loved ones that mention the club.

Manorite Peter Wilson is quoted as saying: “Eton Manor boys who were captured as prisoners of war often said that in the back of their mind they thought of the club and that the Wilderness sustained them because they knew they had something to come back to.”

Sadly, some of the boys would never return.

More than fifty lost their lives during the Second World War including Arthur ‘Rat’ Williams at the D-Day landings in Normandy, Leonard Robinson whose ship was torpedoed by a German U-boat and ‘Shorty’ Wilson who was lost along with all hands on deck off the African coast.

Those who did return would remain honorary members for the rest of their lives highlighting an unusual membership rule which stated that you could only join the club between the ages of 14 and16 years and couldn’t rejoin if you left. Abide by those rules and you were a manor boy for life.

The original club, which prided itself on ‘sportsmanship and gentlemanly behaviour on and off the field of play’, finally closed its doors in 1967.

The clubhouse and Wilderness were eventually lost to encroaching development marking the demise of the capital’s largest boys club.

One of the most poignant memory of the club is a faded inscription that reads: ‘Here at the Eton Manor Club in Hackney Wick those whose names are recorded below spent many happy hours. They would ask no better memorial than that these fields should give to future generations the health, happiness and comradeship that they themselves enjoyed. Here too will live the Manor spirit which members carried with them all over the world.”

Today, the club’s remaining legacy in the area is Eton Manor Athletics Club whose distinctive blue and white hooped running vests are a familiar sight around the marshes where they train several times a week.

Tom Everitt joined the club in 70s and is one its oldest members. He still keeps a hand today in as Eton Manor Athletic Club’s road running secretary.

Tom said: “I joined after the old boy’s club was dissolved but have some great memories over the years. The club is still going strong and we’ve had a real purple patch this season, especially the women’s team.”

The ‘manor’ prides itself on welcoming athletes of all standards and regularly runs supervised beginners classes as well as catering for faster runners wanting to compete in races.

The old boys would certainly be raising an eyebrow to know that it is the women’s team leading from the front nowadays. They were recently crowned league champions as well as winning a handful of other titles in their most successful season to date.

The men also finished on a season’s high retaining the Physical Shield after a fiercely fought relay during the season’s closing race in Loughton.

Eton manor AC offer three training session a week from The Cottage, Marsh Lane, Leyton starting at 7.30pm on Tues and Thurs and 10.15am on Sundays. A track session is held at 7.30pm every Monday at Forest Track and Pool, Chingford Road, E17 5AA If you’d like to run just turn up or go to www.eton-manor.com for details.