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Community Council in conjunction with the I.L.E.A. and, in this
connection, it can be stated that there are upwards of 178 clubs and
societies affiliated to this Community Council.
Besides Associations for rowing and barge sailing, the local sports
clubs include the famous Blackheath Football Club (the oldest of
all rugby football clubs) and the newer professional Charlton
Athletic Football Club. It is hard to believe that the area supports
2 golf clubs, one of which is the Royal Blackheath, the oldest golf
club in the world. With royal sanction it was formed nearly 360
years ago as the "Society of Blackheath Goffers" at a time when
James I was wont to play with his friends when holding court at
Greenwich. It is reputed that the army title of "Field Marshal"
which dates from 1736 was copied from the appellation used by
the Blackheath Club a century earlier.
Considering that the Borough is a constituent part of the country's
greatest conurbation, it is well served with parks and open spaces.
These are evenly distributed throughout its area and form 12.8% of
its total acreage, equivalent to 6½ acres per 1,000 of its population.
Shooters Hill, which encompasses Oxleas and Shepherdleas Woods,
Castlewood, Jackwood and Eltham Common in total amounting to
some 312 acres, gives a continuous expanse of woodland as attractive
and extensive as Hampstead Heath. Greenwich Park, designed
by Le Notre of Versailles fame, with its historical associations and
surroundings, covers an area of 185 acres of rich fauna and flora.
On its southern boundary is Blackheath, one of London's most
famous open spaces, 89 acres of which are within the Borough
providing unsurpassed facilities for games, sports and amusements.
Excellent recreation grounds serve the Charlton area for, as well as
the Maryon and Charlton Parks, there is the Greater London
Council's Play Centre and Lido with its well-equipped open-air
swimming bath, tennis courts and bowling greens. In addition to
65 acres at Sutcliffe Park allocated for a variety of sports, and a
beautiful natural lake at the Tarn, Eltham, the Council has control
of attractive formal gardens and grounds at Well Hall Pleasaunce.
Among other delightful attributes, Avery Hill grounds and nurseries
serve as the headquarters of the Education Authority's Nature
Study Scheme supplying "botany boxes" to the local schools. West
of the Royal Military Academy is Woolwich Common which has
been the site for military displays since the latter half of the 18th
century, a practice which is continued today with the Royal Regiment
of Artillery's Annual Tattoo.
Greenwich can boast of modern public baths. There are four such
establishments within the Borough, each of which has two swimming
pools. Moreover, at Eltham, the Council has provided a hydrotherapy
pool, and on the Abbey Estate, has introduced a