The Hanger Hill Country Club in Vale Lane - once the heart of the community and now the Community Centre of the Church of the Holy Family - was added as the building of the first (eastern) part of the Estate was nearing completion in 1932.

The idea came from the Tudor Tennis Club, whose grounds stood where Oxford Court is today. Residents were canvassed by the Estate's managers and the response was overwhelmingly positive. In September 1932, while work was still under way on the club premises, three asphalt tennis courts were opened for play, with two more being added a year later.

November 1932 saw the grand opening of the clubhouse by Mrs Cooper, wife of the Chairman of Hanger Hill Garden Estate Ealing Ltd. It contained reading rooms, card rooms, a billiards room, a licensed bar and a dance and concert hall to accommodate 200 people, which had been designed after the style of a Tudor baronial hall. Along with the hard tennis courts, bowling greens and croquet lawns had been laid. It was claimed that the Club was unique, for no similar clubhouse existed on any other estate in or near London. In the Estate's heyday, regular dances and tea parties were held - events recalled with great affection and nostalgia by some of the older residents to this day.

The Club was to be run by a management committee of eleven, ten of whom were elected annually by members (six from the houses and four from the flats) together with a representative of the Estate's managers. In the early years, membership was restricted to residents of the Estate; but towards the end of the Second World War, membership was opened to non-residents. Subsequently the management committee was reduced to the more workable size of four.

In 1936 the Club formed its own dramatic society. The idea was that only worthwhile plays, not normally presented in the West End should be produced, so lifting the society out of the ordinary run of amateurs. This bold and venturesome approach led to the name 'The Venturers'. Apart from a war-time break, the society was to stage two or three first-rate plays annually over the next three decades, with tip-top performances of music hall too. When the war started, "blackout concerts" were held every Sunday evening.

Other sections of the Club thrived too. They included bowls, table tennis, billiards and snooker, and social, each headed by its own sub-committee. An annual highlight was the New Year Eve's ball. To keep members informed, there was the "Monthly News".

In the early years the annual subscription to the Club was 10 shillings (50p in new money, but worth a lot more then!), with a further subscription to the individual sections. During the war years, the Club distributed more than £1,000 worth of parcels to its members in the armed services, and at each of three billiards and snooker exhibitions over £300 was raised for St. Dunstan's. After the war the tennis courts were reconstructed to a high standard. In 1948 the men's team won the Middlesex L.T.A. Inter-Club Competition Cup, and the Club was the venue for the finals of the King Edward's Hospital Cup Tournament. In November 1957 the Hanger Hill Country Club celebrated its Silver Jubilee.

The Club continued to flourish until the 1960s, when the premises and grounds were acquired by the Roman Catholic Church. The building is now the Community Centre of the Church of the Holy Family and is still used as the venue for residents association AGMs and other events. What a shame the tennis courts, bowling green and other facilities are no longer there for everyone to use!