What you see is what you get with Mickleton Rangers Football Club – quite literally.

That’s because as well as being hugely successful on the field since forming in the mid-80s, they’ve also raised a good deal of money for good causes off the field.

And that money has been raised without them being in their well-known yellow and blue kit… in fact, there have been occasions when they haven’t worn it at all because over the years they’ve produced a good number of naked calendars with all the proceeds going to charity.

“Yes, we’ve had some fun,” laughed Richard Lewis, one of the club’s founder members. “We went up Meon Hill which overlooks Mickleton ‘dressed’ as Zulus for one calendar.”

And there’s more, much more.

“We went to the model village at Bourton-on the-Water and did King Kong,” continued Lewis, still laughing. “We went to the quarry at Fish Hill and did Star Wars, we did the Great Escape on the football field and The Full Monty at the British Legion.”

Clearly Mickleton Rangers have packed in a lot since they were formed in 1985 and although it’s not written down anywhere, it’s apparent that one of the key requirements of anyone associated with the club is the ability to have fun.

So how did the club come about?

“A load of us used to have a kickaround in the local park in Mickleton, round the back of the butcher’s,” said 53-year-old Lewis, a former player who these days is on the club’s committee. “Every Sunday at 2pm, after Thunderbirds, we’d have a game of football.

“There were 15 to 30 of us so we decided to get together and form a football club. We were about 20 at the time and were just a gang of lads from Mickleton.”

And while the boys played – they used to have two teams in the Evesham Sunday League although these days they have just the one – there was, and is, an equally good team behind the team off the pitch.

Two of those people are Lewis’ mum Jane Tye and stepdad Eddie Tye who have been huge supporters of the club from the start.

“My mum washes the kit,” continued Lewis, “I think she’s on washing machine number six now!

“My stepdad marks the pitch, he used to play with us in the early days as well.”

And it’s a bit of a family affair because Lewis’ brother Matt Tye is currently player/manager of the club.

“He’s 18 years younger than me so he’s still got energy in the tank,” added Lewis. “He usually plays centre-half. The older you get the further you go back, we’ve all done it.”

And while Lewis is obviously very proud of his family’s involvement, they are by no means the only ones helping to ensure that Mickleton Rangers have a bright future.

“We’ve got a good number of older supporters,” said Lewis. “They played and now their sons are playing, they are watching the next generation.

“Our chairman Peter Robinson has also been part of the club for many a year, we’re a lovely family club.”

And as well as having fun the club have also won things over the years too.

“We started off in Division Four or Five of the Evesham Sunday League and we won promotion for the first two or three years,” explained Lewis.

“No other team has played continuously for so long in the league. We’ve never folded, some other clubs are older but they folded before returning.

“We’ve won the County Cup and the Evesham Sunday League Knockout Cup. We’ve won a few trophies but we’ve never won the Division One title.

“We’ve won all the others divisions so that’s the main goal, it would be nice to say we’ve won it.”

And if they do realise their goal it will be done with homespun players. In the first few years in particular, the club prided themselves on the fact that they were very much made up of local people.

“In the early day we weren’t allowed to have more than two players who lived further than two miles from the village,” chuckled Lewis, “and those that did were classed as our overseas players!”

The club play their home games at Mickleton sports field in Stratford Road and Lewis added: “We call it our Theatre of Dreams or Stadium of Light.

“We maintain it ourselves along with the cricket club. A local farmer, Rob Slatter, does the mowing for us.”

Everybody who has been associated with the club has clearly contributed in some way and that is certainly true of Lewis himself.

He played in their very first game just over 33 years ago – “I think we won 10-1,” he said – and only retired two years ago.

“I was generally a midfielder,” he said, “but they won’t let me play now. I scored every year until I was 51 and then they retired me!”

But while he obviously wishes he was still out there kicking a ball around with his mates, his enthusiasm for all things Mickleton Rangers has not diminished one jot.

When he spoke to The Local Answer the club had just won a County Cup game on penalties at Leonard Stanley.

“That was our tour game,” he laughed. “We have one every year, we hire a bus and make a day of it. The spirit in the club is really good.”

Lewis is looking forward to watching his 14-year-old son George playing in the yellow and blue of Mickleton in a couple of years’ time and he said: “We’ve got a few players coming through. We’ve got a couple of 16-year-olds – Rob Singer and Alfie Barnes – who look good.”

So who would be the best player at Mickleton over the years?

“We had a good striker in the early days – Sean Winchester,” said Lewis, “he scored a lot of goals.”

And the goals for Mickleton Rangers are just the same today – play football, have fun… and win that Division One title.