Alan Taylor has rubbed shoulders with some pretty decent footballers over the years.

He was a good goalkeeper back in the day, good enough to share a pitch with one-time England internationals Mike Summerbee and Larry Lloyd, as well as Ernie Hunt, who went down in football folklore for his ‘donkey kick’ goal for Coventry City against Wolves in October 1970.

“I played against Summerbee and Hunt when I was playing for Gloucestershire,” said Taylor, who will be 80 this year. “The match was at Stonehouse. They were on Swindon’s books at the time and were playing for Wiltshire.”

So how many did they score against him that day?

“They didn’t,” laughed Taylor. “Neither of them scored and I think we won 2-1. Mind you, you could see that Summerbee was a good player.”

Taylor played 14 times for Gloucestershire, something he is rightly very proud of, and it was through the county set-up that he remembers coming up against Larry Lloyd, the big centre-half who went on to win pretty much everything in the game with Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in the 1970s and all the way through to 1980.

“It was a Possibles v Probables game at Sharpness,” said Taylor, who once broke three ribs and his nose playing for the county. “I was playing for the Probables and Lloyd was in the Possibles side. Tony Townsend was selected in front of him and he went on to play for Shortwood and Forest Green.”

Taylor also became good friends with Manchester United goalkeeper Alex Stepney who he met at a Golden Wedding party.

“I did mention to him that I was probably a better goalkeeper than him,” laughed Taylor.

And what was his reply?

“I quite believe that but no one has ever heard of you!” Taylor said, still laughing.

Taylor played his club football for Brimscombe and certainly won his fair share of medals, winning the Gloucestershire Northern Senior Amateur Cup as well as several Stroud Charities cups.

He had trials for Bristol City and Swindon Town and also turned down a month’s trial with Arsenal, something that would be almost unheard of today.

“I’d just started a job with Greaves and Thomas, a furniture company,” explained Taylor, who was an upholsterer. “I was on £17.10sh a week and if I’d have gone to Arsenal I’d have had to give up my job and they’d only have given me £20 a week. Now you see players earning £600,000 a week!”

Born in Thrupp, Taylor describes himself as a “Stroudie”, although these days he lives in Brockworth.

He enjoyed sport from an early age and played a lot when he was at secondary school at Brimscombe Polytechnic. “I enjoyed it much more than maths,” he chuckled.

And he’s certainly crammed a lot of sport into his near 80 years.

He’s been a regular figure at Cotswold Hills Golf Club since the mid-70s – he was club captain last year – and as well as being a very familiar face on the football fields around Gloucestershire and beyond, he also played a lot of cricket.

“I played cricket for Chalford and I was an all-rounder,” he said. “I bowled medium pace and used to bat three or four. I liked to get runs as quickly as I could when I batted.”

And Chalford were a good side back then, winning seven trophies in 1963. And it wasn’t just on the local stage that they excelled because they also reached the semi-finals of the national village knockout as well, before going out to a team from Cornwall.

“They had three ex-county players in their team and stuffed us,” said Taylor ruefully.

It wasn’t just football and cricket that Taylor used to play, however.

“I’d play anything,” he laughed, “darts, snooker, table tennis. I remember when I joined the Army in the late 1950s, I was stationed at Droitwich. I became good friends with a bloke called Trevor Jackson and we used to go to the pub and play darts against the locals for a bit of money.

“We’d only have enough money for two pints of cider – it was 1sh 6d in those days – and my mate used to say that if I didn’t improve he’d leave me in the billet and play with someone else. I got better after that!”

It’s fair to say that while Taylor liked all sports, it was the outdoor sports that really gripped him and that was certainly the case when he started playing golf.

“I’d played a bit of golf with Amberley Artisans at Minchinhampton Old Course but nothing too serious,” said Taylor. “I didn’t have a handicap or anything like that.

“When I retired from cricket, George Powell, who played for Slad Exiles, asked me if I wanted to play golf at Cotswold Hills.

“He said they were building a course on land he farmed at Ullenwood and that he could probably swing it for me with Ian Waterson, who was a committee member.

“I went for an interview with Ray Sims up at Cleeve – the club were still playing at Cleeve in those days – and he asked me if I’d got a handicap.

“I said I played off 12 even though I didn’t have one, and he said he’d take me at my word because it was bucketing down with rain and didn’t want to go out and play nine holes!”

Fortunately Taylor was a natural striker of the golf ball and his handicap has never been higher than 12.

That’s what he plays off now – “Not bad for someone my age,” he said – and it’s been as low as six.

That’s one higher than his son Paul, who is also a member at Cotswold Hills, and plays off five.

Paul captained the Cotswold Hills A team to the North Gloucestershire Foursomes League title last season and his proud dad said: “It’s a pretty good achievement to have two captains from the same family in one club.”

Paul is obviously a very good golfer. Like his dad he played football and cricket – for Chalford and Birdlip respectively – but while his golf handicap may be lower than his dad’s, Taylor senior laughed: “He wasn’t as good at football and cricket as me.”

They have certainly won plenty of competitions between them over the years, with Taylor senior being particularly proud of his success in the Fazey Cup.

“It’s the equivalent of the club championship for net, not gross,” he said. “I’ve won it twice and Paul hasn’t won it!”

These days Taylor tries to play golf twice a week and as you’d expect he loves playing the course at Ullenwood.

“If you’ve not played there, you’d think it was very up and down,” he said. “It’s not, it’s actually quite flat and it’s good for seniors.

“We’ve got a brilliant greenkeeper in Wayne Vincent and it’s a good standard course.

“Anyone thinking of taking up golf should certainly take a look at Cotswold Hills because it’s a great place to start with great practice facilities.”

The club are also hosting an increasing number of county events and away from the course they are extending the changing rooms, so there is plenty going on at the club.

Taylor remains a big part of the club, of course, and is very proud of the fact that during his 12 months as captain he raised £8,500 for CLIC Sargent.

The cancer charity for children and young people is a cause close to Taylor’s heart, following the death of his sister-in-law Faye Bennett’s grandson – Joseph – at the start of last year.

Supporting others is one of the benefits of putting your hand up to take on the captain’s role, of course, and it’s a role that has plenty of other demands, including the drive-in at the start of the year.

So how did the drive-in go for Taylor, who says his strength is probably his driving?

“Not very good,” he laughed. “But it was absolutely bucketing down and blowing a hooley. I made 170 yards and that was very good in those conditions. Me and the president, Alastair Harvey, had a combined total of 320 yards so it was pretty difficult.”