Turn off the A435 Evesham Road a handful of miles out of Cheltenham and you’ll find yourself heading up towards the village of Gotherington.

Once in the village the road will take you past the Shutters Inn on the right and a couple of hundred yards or so further up on the left you’ll come across Gotherington playing field.

And on a Saturday morning in the summer – providing it’s not throwing it down – the playing field will be packed with youngsters enjoying the great summer game that is cricket.

Gotherington Cricket Club currently have some 50 youngsters signed up – this season they are running teams at under-11 and under-15 age groups – which is a tremendous number for a small, village club and it is not something that has happened just by accident.

It is down in large part to the enthusiasm, hard work and commitment of Brian and Yvonne Cosgrove, who are now into their 21st season as the driving forces behind the club’s junior section after setting it up in 1997.

“The first ever junior team we fielded included Will Banwell who is now our senior club captain,” said Brian with justifiable pride. “Our under-13s won the B division of the Cheltenham and District Youth League last season,winning all 11 of their games.”

Brian and Yvonne’s son David, now 28, also came through the youth set-up and Brian added: “We must have had well in excess of 150 play in our junior teams over the years.”

Next year the plan is to run teams at under-11, under-13 and under-15 age groups – they practise on Saturdays and play matches on Sunday mornings and Monday evenings – which means life will continue to be very busy for Brian and Yvonne.

“Yvonne is the junior youth coordinator,” said Brian. “She does all the admin and the scoring. We want the youngsters just to enjoy playing cricket.

“It can be painful when we lose players to bigger clubs but we’ve always said that we want players to play at the best standard they can.”

What makes Gotherington’s efforts all the more rewarding is that everything they have done is self-financed.

“We raise all the money ourselves through sponsorships, a 100 club, that sort of thing,” said Brian. “In the 21 years we’ve been running the junior set-up we’ve received just one grant for £250. Gotherington Parish Council have also been very supportive.”

These days 63-year-old Brian rarely plays himself. A former 1st XI captain, he is presently the club’s treasurer and groundsman, and three years ago he was invited to be the club’s chairman.

That year marked the 50th anniversary of Gotherington being reformed and Brian admitted: “That was quite an honour to be chairman that year.”

And a very fitting one too for someone who has done, and continues to do, so much for the club.