SPORTS CLUB

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 August 1938, Page 7

SPORTS CLUB

BIG PROJECT IN LONDON ENTHUSIASTIC SUPPORT ' A great new sports and social centre is'planned for Earl’s Court, London, in which members and visitors from all parts of the Empire will be able to meet and enjoy a wide variety of games and innumerable recreational facilities. It is hoped to transform Earl’s Court, claimed to be the largest sports arena in the world, into an Empire sports club with 100,900 members. The scheme is backed by the Marquess of Queensbury who said this week: “It is not a vague scheme for the future; but a carefully thought out plan which I hope will be brought to life within a very few weeks. “The new Earl’s court, which cost £1,500,000 to erect, is unique as a sports centre, with its 200 ft by 100 ft swimming pool, vast spaces for gymnastics and running, its many halls for dances and smaller halls for lectures, meetings, debates, cinema shows, and innumerable rooms for sport such as squash rackets, table tennis, darts; its restaurant accommodation for- thousands and facilities for hairdressers’ shops, beauty parlours and other club conveniences.

“I want Earl’s court to become a real club, and the main points in my plans are these: “There shall be no element of charity about it. It must be self-support-ing, no-profit-making, and free from Government interference or institutional atmosphere. “The members must be men and women who count in the world, people who earn their own livings in various ways, whether they be blue-blooded young aristocrats or everyday working people. “No class or race distinctions can be permitted, and it must be a real club in the sense that the Carlton or the R.A.C. is—run and paid for by the members for their sole benefit. “I calculate that a shilling or one and sixpence a week from 100,000 members should cover membership cost, and—most important of allseason tickets to Earl’s Court available on ’buses and the Underground. It is no good saying the club costs only a shilling a week if people have to spend three or four shillings a week getting there. “This plan is enthusiastically supported by Sir Malcolm Campbell, Sir Noel Curtis-Bennett, Sir Charles Higham, Mr H. J. M. Boyer, and Mr Michaeal P. Harraway, directors of the National Sporting Club, and Miss Prunella Stack.

“Here are some of the sports and activities that will be carried out:— Badminton, billiards, boxing, darts, fencing, physical culture, squash rackets, swimming, tennis, table tennis, water polo, amateur theatricals, cinema shows, dancing, a debating .parliament, lectures, a library, and visits to plages of interest. “The club will have valuable services: Medical and dental clinics, an information bureau, a theatre ticket bureau (with tickets at special prices), and beauty and hairdressing saloons. There is no reason why a girl should not have her hair done for about sixpence or her nails manicured for threepence.”