Chris Hanby started playing cricket for Newent when he was aged 10 when his dad, Charles, was a player at the club.

Nothing unusual about that, you might say... except for the fact it was 60 years ago.

And Chris’ achievements off the field have matched those on it over the decades as he followed his father’s lead by putting in hours and hours of work to help the club flourish.

When Chris, like his dad a farmer, first started playing he fielded at long leg and batted at number 11, but he has come a long way since then.

“In those days I had to call the senior players ‘Mr’ but nowadays the youngsters call me anything they like,” he chuckled.

Today, remarkably, he is preparing for another season as a wicketkeeper playing in the Cheltenham/Gloucester/Forest of Dean League.

Chris does not seek any plaudits for his longevity or the work he does supporting the club, in fact, quite the opposite, as Tony Marcovecchio, one of the club’s vice-presidents, explains.

“He has never sought any office at the club,” he said. “He’s never wanted to be treasurer, chairman or captain of Newent.

“But what he does do is an incredible amount of work behind the scenes. For years he’s been seen out and about at our Three Ashes ground, mowing the grass, cutting down trees and preparing the playing fields and he never takes any credit.

“He still plays every weekend and he’ll play twice if he can.”

You’d think at the age of 70, the biggest concern for Chris would be whether he could get through another season, especially as he intends wearing the gloves.

Not a bit of it, it’s only his beloved club that concerns him. When he spoke to the Local Answer, he’d just spent four hours chain harrowing the cricket field and he said: “I’m worried about what’s going to happen when I pack up. What’s going to happen to the club? It’s so difficult to get anyone to do things these days.”

Not that Chris has any immediate plans to call time on his remarkable career. “I’ll keep going for as long as I can hold my place. There’s no problem with the wicketkeeping but I find batting and all that running quite difficult now.

“These days I tend to bat only when there’s an emergency.”

Loyalty is a big thing for Chris who played football for Hartpury for 17 years. He was a goalkeeper and it’s a record he’s rightly proud of – although he played two years fewer for the club than his dad who was a left-winger or left-back.

Chris, who lives in Hartpury, is also proud of the fact that he has played every season for Newent Cricket Club for the past 60 years.

“I broke my leg one year when I was playing football for Hartpury,” he remembers, “but I managed to squeeze a couple of games in before the end of the summer.”

“And I had a hip replacement about 10 years ago in May but played two games before I had it. I did ask the surgeon if I’d be able to play cricket again and he said ‘yes’, but I didn’t tell him I played wicketkeeper and threw myself about.”

Newent Cricket Club and the Hanby family go together like runs and wickets. They are inextricably linked.

Chris’ dad joined in the early 1950s when the cricket club in Hartpury folded and the fact the club is in such good health today is in large part down to him. He played for them for 30 years and was still president of the club when he died in 2013.

“The club went down to rock bottom in the 1960s,” said Chris. “My dad did pretty much everything to keep it going. He got the team together, prepared the pitch and took people to games because in those days not many people had cars. If it hadn’t been for him the club would have folded.”

Chris at least doesn’t have to look after the wicket. That task is the responsibility of Chris Germaine and Chris Hanby is grateful for that.

“He’s turned a good wicket into one of the best in the county,” he said. “He’s a real good club person and we get on really well looking after the wicket and the field between us.”

Chris is also grateful to his understanding wife Annie.

“She has always supported me and my cricket,” he said. “She doesn’t understand it, she doesn’t even like it, but she has done teas to help out.

“If I played on a Saturday and a Sunday she’d wash my kit and iron it on a Saturday night so that it was ready for the Sunday. I wasn’t allowed to play in dirty kit!”

He is also proud of his captaincy record. “I never wanted to be captain, on the committee or anything like that,” he said, “but I was captain for one game. We got a draw and I’m happy with my captaincy record.”