courts. The clubhouse is a separate building from Victory Hall, and has its own bar, function room and an entrance on Rake Lane. The sports club also provides facilities for croquet and bowls. In football, Upton FC was founded in 1994, and has teams for both boys and girls of all abilities and ages from six onwards. Upton Park is an area of recreational open space and woodland. The park was part of William Inman's Upton Manor estate and had included a racecourse between 1922 and 1924. Part of the Upton Park site is now the Moreton Spur road, connected to the M53 motorway. Transport Roads Upton today is most notable for its central location between Birkenhead and West Kirby. The consequence of this is that road transport through Upton is uncharacteristically efficient for the rural suburban area of Wirral. Upton is situated at the junction of roads from Birkenhead, Moreton (the A551), Greasby (the B5139), Saughall Massie and Arrowe Park (the A551). The road network was further enhanced with the building of a bypass (the A5027) in the early 1980s. The M53 motorway, at Junction 2, is situated less than a mile from the centre of the village and connects directly to the bypass. Buses The first bus to run from Upton village was a horse-drawn bus, in 1891. This bus operated to Claughton Village. Whilst the first motorised Birkenhead Corporation bus worked on 14 July 1920. Until deregulation of the bus services, in 1986, Upton was served by both the forerunner to Merseytravel, the Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive (MPTE) and the separate operator, Crosville. Present-day services are run primarily by Arriva, and are coordinated by Merseytravel. The village has bus stops along all four of the main roads entering the village. Merseytravel's daily "Saveaway" Area B and All Zones tickets are valid to use from any bus stop in Upton, on the basis of being for the passenger of relevant age, in-date and for use after 9:30am. Railways Upton is not part of the major electrified Merseyrail Wirral line from Birkenhead to West Kirby, which instead passes around the more densely populated coast Upton railway station exists as part of the Borderlands line between Bidston and Wrexham and is operated by Transport for Wales, with a diesel service. However, the station is within the Merseytravel area. Journeys can be made from the station with a daily "Saveaway" ticket.