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The Old Actonians Association Sports Club was formed in 1964 for the purpose of renting the current sports ground from Acton Borough Council.
Pior to 1964 the Old Actonians Association had been formed in 1925 as an association for former pupils of Acton County Grammer School and in the same year the Old Actonians Football Club was formed. The old boys of the School had formed Oaldene Cricket Club in 1922 but some time after that changed the name to Old Actonians. All three clubs were independant of each other.
However, in 1963 Acton Borough Council purchased the sports ground from Napiers, who were moving from their factory in Acton. The Council had let the ground to Ealing Dean Cricket Club for the summer of 1963 but were looking for a tenant who could use both the winter and summer facilities and provide a sports centre in the southern part of the Borough.
The Old Actonians Association and the Football and Cricket Clubs formed the OAASC and provided a loan of £250 to the Sports Club for working capital and applied to the Council for a lease. They were deemed suitable candidates and were given a one year lease on the condition that membership was not restricted to the Old Boys (there were no female pupils at that time) of Acton County School but open to all residents of Ealing and Acton.
The five and a half acre site housed two large run-down timber buildings dating from 1908 and 1922, the council supplied and paid for a groundsman and the ground machinery and local councillors made up a large proportion of the Committee.
The length of the leases were gradually extended and in 1974 the Club converted to a Company Limited by Guarantee, negotiated a ten year lease with the, now, London Borough of Ealing and built the Squash Courts. However, the Council still supplied three Councillors as Directors.
By 1979 we were paying £1700 per year rent for the ground and the Council considered that the cost of the ground to them (groundsman, materials, machinery, rates, etc) was £14,000 per year and they were looking for a massive increase in rent. It was therefore agreed with them that the sports club would take over all the costs of running the ground, provided that the Council provide a small piece of land to build two maisonettes and a £30,000 interest free loan to build them together with a twenty year lease. This duly took place in 1980 and by 1981 the maisonettes were built and a groundsman was in residence.
This caused considerable strain on the Club resources and through 1981, 82 and 83 the Club was running at a loss and was extremely rundown. £25,000 was borrowed from the Brewery and this was spent partly on refurbishing the bar with the balance used for upgrades to tennis courts. While the situation started to gradually improve, the Directors were finding it difficult to control the running of the Club without professional help and in 1984 a Manager was appointed who also took on the role of Club Secretary.
Through the next ten years the Club made steady progress in spite of the effect of drink/driving legislation on bar revenue and substantial rent and rate increases. Dressing rooms, Bar and Pavilion all had alterations and extentions and substantial work was carried out on the ground.
In 1994 the Council offered us the chance of purchasing a 130 year lease for a peppercorn rent at a cost of £161,000 In view of ever increasing rent and the security of tennure this guaranteed, and helped by a £125,000 loan from the bank, this was implemented.
The Club has continued to prosper and in 1999 the inside of the Club House was gutted and completely reconstructed at a cost of £110,000.
The Club now has over 1000 members of which 200 are juniors. The Club caters for Badminton, Cricket, Cycling, Football, Netball, Rugby, Squash, Table Tennis and Tennis and about 700 of its members are actively involved in one or other of these sports.
From its inception it has been the aim of Old Actonians to provide varied sports to as high a standard as possible on the best facilities that we can afford.
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