Gloucestershire Gipsies, the nomadic club who have been gracing cricket fields around the county and beyond for so long, will be on centre stage at this year’s Cheltenham Festival.

And they won’t be difficult to spot either because their distinctive burgundy and old gold colours will be there for all to see when they take on an old Gloucestershire XI made up entirely of former county favourites.

Cheltenham College, one of the most idyllic grounds on the county circuit, is the perfect setting for such a game, of course, which will celebrate Gloucestershire Gipsies’ 100^th anniversary.

“It should be a great day, we’ll make it a nice social occasion,” said the Gipsies’ honorary secretary Chris Coley. “It will be very special because this is a big year for our club, we’re 100 not out. After the game we’ll host our centenary ball in one of the marquees.”

That’s very much in keeping with what the Gloucestershire Gipsies are all about, of course – playing cricket, mixing with like-minded people and having fun.

“We are a non-league team who play strong, competitive cricket,” continued Coley, “but it’s not all about the winning. We still like to win games, of course we do, but a lot of what we’re about is what league cricket isn’t – it’s not about bonus points, we try to involve everyone in the game and nobody questions the umpire’s decision. It’s a pleasurable occasion.”

It certainly is and they will get plenty of opportunities to play the great game that is cricket this summer because the Gipsies have some 50 fixtures planned.

That’s been around the norm for some years now and Coley added: “We’ve got about 300 playing members, some play one or two games a season, others will play 10.”

Those players come from all walks of life but that is something that is a far cry from the club’s early days when only players of a high social standing were considered.

“We’ve evolved considerably since then,” said Coley, who is now in his mid-70s. “The two requirements today are that you can play cricket and that you play the game in the right spirit.

“We play some quality sides so we need players who can play, I’d like to think that most decent club cricketers in Gloucestershire are gipsies.”

New players are proposed by existing members or, alternatively, someone wanting to join the club can apply themselves, with Coley explaining that club rules state they are then given two games to qualify as a gipsy.

And the Gipsies have certainly had some stellar names turn out for them over the years including Gloucestershire and England great Jack Russell, 1985 Ashes-winning hero Richard Ellison and ex-England batsman from back in the day Charlie Barnett.

Former Gloucestershire captains David Graveney, Mark Alleyne and Tony Wright have also played along with one-time pace bowlers Mike Smith and Jon Lewis, both of whom played Test match cricket for England.

“A couple of years ago, we fielded a team made up entirely of former Gloucestershire cricketers,” said Coley. “That took some doing and it’s something we’re very proud of, it shows what a close relationship we have with the county.”

But it’s not just cricketers from yesteryear who have helped to make the brand that is Gloucestershire Gipsies so unique.

John Cleese, he of Monty Python and Fawlty Towers fame who went to Clifton College, has turned his arm over for the Gipsies – he was a pretty decent bowler by all accounts – while National Hunt racing has been well represented by the likes of Peter Scudamore, his two boys Tom and Michael, David Nicholson and Edward Gillespie, the one-time managing director of Cheltenham Racecourse.

Rugby, in the shape of former internationals Eddie Butler, Ian Wright and JV Smith, along with top ex-referee Chris White, has featured strongly, along with football through the exploits of ex-Derby County duo Rod Thomas and Colin Boulton.

All, without exception, have added to the rich history and general bonhomie of a club that play many of their games at Stowell Park in the heart of the Cotswolds thanks to the ongoing generosity of the Vestey family.

“Most of our games are all-day games,” said Coley. “We don’t play much overs cricket, we play timed games. We start at 11.30am with the final 20 overs starting at 6pm when hopefully all results are still possible. A typical game will see a declaration if the side batting first is not bowled out.

“We don’t normally play on Saturdays but we play a lot of Sunday cricket, sometimes we can play five games in five days.”

That requires a lot of organisation, of course, and while Coley is clearly the driving force behind the Gipsies, it is not all down to him to find the players.

“I have a match manager for every game,” he said. “It’s up to them to put a team together of the required standard.”

That comes with its own pressure because Coley quickly adds: “I expect them to do their job, I don’t want anyone ringing me up on the morning of a game saying they only have eight players!”

That doesn’t happen very often, if at all, and the role taken on by Coley, who played his first game for the Gipsies more than 60 years ago, should never be understated.

He says former Kent and England swing bowler Richard Ellison is the best player he has played with – he also gives an honourable mention to current Cheltenham College cricket coach Mark Briers who played for Durham for a couple of years – and added that Ted Dexter was the best player he had played against.

Coley has played with and against an awful lot of players over the years, of course, and although he didn’t play last season it looks like he will be putting on his whites again in  2022.

“I might have a game this year,” he told The Local Answer. “No, I definitely will play a game, you’ve got to when we’re 100 not out haven’t you.”

Those 100 years have certainly been pretty special for the Gloucestershire Gipsies and include tours to such far-flung places as Zimbabwe, Canada, Morocco, South Africa and Thailand – they’ve won three six-a-side tournaments in Chiang Mai – and Coley remains optimistic that the second century will be just as successful.

“I hope so,” he said. “We just want to keep the tradition going.”

That tradition includes not only nice venues and playing with nice people, but splendid lunches and equally enjoyable teas as the day’s cricket unfolds.

This year will feel even more special, of course, with the fixtures against seven of the teams who the Gipsies first played 100 years ago having that bit more added appeal.

They include Cheltenham Cricket Club, Cheltenham College and Bourton Vale and Coley said: “We’ll have some sort of function at each of those games to mark our centenary.”

There will be plenty going on in the weeks and months ahead in what is sure to be a summer of fun for the Gipsies with the club’s annual golf day at Minchinhampton set to be bigger and better than ever.

The Gipsies have also got themselves a racehorse to mark their special year, a horse which is being trained by Fergal O’Brien, himself a Gloucestershire Gipsy, who is based just outside Andoversford.

The name is very appropriate – One Hundred Notout – and equally appropriately it is owned by 11 Gipsies.

“They’ve all invested in the project,” said Coley, who owns a number of racehorses. “He’s coming back into training in the next week and he’ll run in the spring and in the summer, he likes the better ground.

“He ran in two bumpers last year and came third in one of them.” 

That’s something a little bit different, of course, and Coley, who has published a book about the club – Gloucestershire Gipsies 100 Not Out – is certainly not afraid to try new things.

“We’ve played a few overs games more recently and we’ve even played a Twenty20 game,” he said, adding, “we like to think we move with the times.”

And it could be they are about to move a lot more with the times because Coley, when musing about the format for the aforementioned Cheltenham Festival game against an old Gloucestershire XI – a team that is being organised by former county wicketkeepers Andy Stovold and Andy Brassington – suddenly said: “I think we should play The Hundred.

“The Hundred for our hundred, how good is that?”