In the summer of 1926 negotiations began on the acquisition of six acres of land for the Civil Service Sports Association in June of the following year His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Windsor, arrived to open the new sports facilities on Beacon Down Green.
The aims of the Association were recorded as being for “the provision of facilities for sports and recreation and social intercourse for person employed in Civil Service departments in the Plymouth area”, Servicemen – ‘fighting forces of the Crown’ – excluded’.
Nevertheless the Admiral Superintendent of the Dockyard, Rear Admiral Backhouse was at the opening, as was the Mayor of Plymouth, Jimmy Moses. And among the sports played on that opening day were Bowls, Cricket, Football, Tennis and Billiards, with facilities for Rugby, Hockey proposed and sporting sections formed to play Golf and to take up Rowing and Swimming. Over the next few years several more tennis courts were added and the site acreage expanded to 10 acres. A new clubhouse and main entrance was added in the late 1930s by which time the aptly-named Recreation Road had been created across the entrance to the grounds, between Ham Drive and Beacon Park Road.
