The ever resourceful Mike Edwards has been rummaging around the shed at his home in the Cotswolds and it was time put to good use because he came up with this picture of Guiting Power’s under-11 cricket team from around 2003.

Thinking the photo was of wider interest, he immediately sent it in to The Local Answer accompanied by a covering note which read, ‘Note both Twiston-Davies boys and Chris Hughes from ‘Love Island’ fame’.

The Twiston-Davies boys are, of course, Sam and Willy, who have been in the spotlight for a good number of years having carved out hugely successful careers in the world of racing.

Hughes’ rise to fame has been more recent and follows his appearance on the hugely popular reality dating show ‘Love Island’ last year.

All three were enthusiastic members of the Guiting Power junior set-up which Edwards, who lives in the village, ran for about five years until around 2008.

Hughes went on to become a regular player at Bourton Vale and enjoyed considerable success as a seam bowler at the West of England Premier League club although his other commitments mean he doesn’t play as much as he used to.

“He was probably more of a batsman when he played for us,” said Edwards. “His brother Ben was more of a bowler, he was quite sharp.”

Edwards also has fond memories of the Twiston-Davies brothers, who are the sons of leading National Hunt trainer Nigel Twiston-Davies.

“They both batted and bowled, Willy was a natural and Sam really worked hard at his game and reached a good standard,” said Edwards.

“They were both very enthusiastic boys, but horses were always going to be their main sport.”

Edwards also remembers all-rounder James Macklin “who I think played county schools” and Tim Sheasby who he described as “a good cricketer, a good all-round lad”.

“I think he played for Slaughters, he was a real solid kid.”

Edwards also describes Hugo Morrisey as “a very good kid”.

Morrisey was a leg-spinner and Edwards added: “He was quite a good leg-spinner and I think he played some form of representative cricket, maybe district level.

“He was unusual for a leg-spinner at that age because he had good control.”

Although the junior section ran only for a few years, it certainly helped to produce some good players, most notably right-arm seam bowler Michael Cawdron who played for Gloucestershire in the late 90s and early noughties.

“His dad Bill used to be captain of Guiting Power,” recalled Edwards. “He was an all-rounder and used to whack it a bit.

“His brother Tony was also a very good cricketer. He was a raw talent and if he’d had the same coaching opportunities as Michael he may have been as good as him.”

Edwards never played for Guiting Power but played against them many times over 25 years for Cheltenham Milers, Cheltenham King George and Cheltenham Extras, the club’s 3rd XI who he captained for eight years.

Guiting Power’s adult side folded some seven or eight years ago, a year or so after near neighbours Temple Guiting ceased playing.

While that is obviously sad, Edwards looks on with some pride at some of the players who came through Guiting Power’s junior set-up under his watch and are now playing elsewhere around the Cotswolds.

“Wicketkeeper Ashley Andrews is captain of Stow and Ben Moore is playing at Chipping Campden, he’s a very good cricketer,” he said.

“Matthew Rose is also playing at Chipping Campden, he was quite a quick bowler, and another good cricketer was Louis Millar – he was a very good player.

“He’s moved away now but was an all-rounder and could bowl quite quickly.

“We started off with about half-a-dozen players when we set up the junior section and at the end we had about 50, including girls.

“We didn’t have enough coaches to cope.”

But there could be a very happy ending to the story because 10 years or so after the last village junior cricket team played on Guiting Power’s playing field there are moves afoot to maybe re-establish a junior team in the village.

“We’ve got seven or eight seven-year-olds including my grandson Connor,” said Edwards. “We might hold some cricket sessions next season.”

That’s good news indeed.