Fencing Club in Blackheath: £20 Taster, Tuesday Adult Nights

Blackheath Fencing Club runs its adult nights on Tuesdays from 7.30 pm to 9.30 pm in the sports hall of Blackheath High School for Girls, Vanbrugh Park, London SE3 7AG. A beginner can start for a £20 taster fee and pay the remaining £88 if they carry on, or pay the full £108 course price up front. All club equipment is provided. The club began as an evening class in 1963, and it says it is one of the largest clubs in south-east London.

The club's own history page says it started in 1963 as an evening class and became an independent club in 1976. It trains foil, epee and sabre, and describes itself as a non-profit community enterprise that tries to keep fees reasonable. The about page lists around 53 adult members and 60 juniors, with the youngest member aged 8 and the eldest well over 70.

The hall is equipped with five Favero electric scoring boxes, which the club says are all regularly in use, plus wireless spools and several well-qualified coaches. That matters for a newcomer because it means touches are registered electronically from the first bout, rather than argued over by eye. The coaches are not named on the site, so the first person you meet will most likely be whoever is running the Tuesday session.

The adult novice course runs on Tuesdays from 7.30 pm to 9.30 pm and is open from age 15, with the club saying its novice courses cater for people from 15 to 60 and beyond. Courses start in September, January and after Easter, and the club also runs refresher courses at the same times, which suits anyone who fenced at school and wants to return.

The price is split into two steps. A £20 taster fee gets you in the hall, and if you continue you pay the balance of £88, so the whole course is £108; the club lists concessions at £88 in total. Everyone who completes the course also gets three weeks of free fencing in the following term, which softens the step up to regular membership.

Kit is simple: trainers, loose-fitting trousers, tracksuit bottoms or stretch leggings, and a T-shirt, and the club says shorts are not allowed. Bring something to drink, because two hours of lunging in a school hall is thirsty work. All equipment, from mask to blade, is provided on the course, so you spend nothing on gear until you decide to stay.

Once past the course, adult fees are charged per term of 11 to 13 weeks. One session a week, on either Tuesday or Thursday, costs £120, which the club works out at £10 a session. Two sessions a week cost £200, a 17 percent discount on the second. Students, the unemployed and retired members pay £83 for one session and £139 for two.

Fees cover use of club equipment and coaching, are payable at the start of each term and are paid online. Regular fencers must also hold British Fencing membership, and the club asks members to download their digital membership card. Guests pay £15 a session, with a lesson, subject to availability, costing £5 more, and members of Gravesham Fencing Club pay £10 as guests.

The club says existing fencers are welcome to drop in, and its description for experienced fencers mentions a free first night. A guest fee of £15 applies in other cases, and Streatham Fencing Club members fence as guests for free. If you travel for work and want a sparring evening in south-east London, this is a practical stop, and the five electric boxes mean there is usually kit ready for bouts.

One date matters for visitors: the club's own news says it is closed for half term and re-opens on 3 November, so an October trip would find an empty hall. A sign-up for the January adult training class was already being advertised alongside the junior club, which tells you the next big intake of new fencers arrives after Christmas.

The venue is on Vanbrugh Park, and entry is through the pedestrian gate, where you press the call button. Level access is available via the driveway with help from reception. The club says the only parking is on the road, on Mycenae Road, and that it is fine after 6.30 pm, which suits an evening session.

By train, the club points to Blackheath and Westcombe Park stations, and to the DLR at Deptford Bridge. Buses 53, 54, 89, 108, 202, 286, 380, 386, 422 and SL4 serve stops near the school. Blackheath Halls says direct trains run from Blackheath to Charing Cross, Waterloo East and London Bridge.

Skip the club if you want to fence several nights a week from the start: the adult programme here is built around the Tuesday session, with Thursday as an extra, and the evening is two hours in a school hall. Come for the price, the electric scoring and the straightforward course. It suits people who like a club that has run since 1963.

If the course is not running when you arrive, the next intakes come in January and after Easter, and the club's taster fee lets you test one night before committing. The other London option is London Fencing Club in Finsbury, which publishes a drop-in visitor fee and runs its own six-week beginners' courses, so a missed intake does not have to mean a missed winter.

The village centre is a short walk from the school. Blackheath Halls, at 23 Lee Road, SE3 9RQ, is a concert hall built in 1895, which describes itself as London's oldest surviving purpose-built cultural venue. Across the heath, Ranger's House on Chesterfield Walk is the Georgian villa that houses the Wernher Collection and is cared for by English Heritage.

Venue: Blackheath High School for Girls, Vanbrugh Park, Blackheath, London SE3 7AG, in the school sports hall. Sessions: adults Tuesday 7.30 pm to 9.30 pm. Beginners: £20 taster then £88, or £108 in full; kit provided; ages 15 and over. Guests: £15 a session. Bring trainers, loose trousers or leggings, a T-shirt and a drink; no shorts.

Getting there: Blackheath or Westcombe Park stations, DLR Deptford Bridge, or one of ten bus routes; on-street parking on Mycenae Road after 6.30 pm. Booking and payments are online through blackheathfencing.org.uk, and the site publishes no phone number. For help planning the trip or the evening around it, ask the Karpo APP.