It’s fair to say that an awful lot of people in Tewkesbury know Mark Simon.

“Yes, but they may not know me by my proper name,” he laughed, “they’ll probably know me as Midge or Barrel or Leroy.”

Born and bred in Tewkesbury some 51 years ago, Simon is one of those larger than life characters who far more often than not will have a smile on his face, one that is as wide as the town’s high street is long.

His is a familiar face around the pubs and clubs in Tewkesbury where he has enjoyed considerable success in a number of sports, most notably pool and skittles.

He’s played a good number of other sports as well including darts at the old Dowty club in Ashchurch, snooker, crib for Town Crest and, in his younger days, cricket when he played for first Ashchurch and then Rekoons.

So where did those nicknames come from?

“I was called Midge when I was at school,” explained the former Tirlebrook Primary and Tewkesbury School pupil. “We’d play football and I’d go in goal. The ball used to fly over my head and they’d call me ‘midget’ which got shortened to ‘Midge’.”

And while Simon isn’t the tallest, it’s also fair to say that he’s quite well built which is how he came to be known as Barrel.

And what about Leroy, where did that come from?

“That’s a bit soft,” he chuckled. “It’s after Leroy Burrell, the sprinter. Burrell is a bit like Barrel so they called me Leroy!”

Simon, a self-employed van driver, is very likeable bloke and any team that he has been part of is pretty much guaranteed plenty of laughs.

He used to play a lot of pool at The Canterbury in his early days, a pub over the road from where he grew up.

“I used to roll over there at 6pm on a Friday and roll home again on Sunday evening,” he laughed. “We had a really good pool team and won everything there was to win in the Tewkesbury League.”

And the names of his all-conquering team-mates trip off Simon’s tongue as though it was yesterday.

“Kevin O’Brien was our captain,” Simon recalled, “and Dave Cull was our team leader. Then there was Joey Gilder, Steve Pasqualle, Tommy Drinkwater, Tony Chew, Barry Goodwin and Alan Thompson.

“I started playing for them when I was 16-17 and I played for them for 20 years. I was the youngest, I was the baby of the team.”

Simon doesn’t play pool these days – he also played at Double D’s in yesteryear – but he is still big into his skittles.

These days he plays for Wye Emms at the YMCA club in town and, a bit like a modern-day professional footballer, he can boast a number of teams on his CV.

“I started playing skittles for the Hermits at The Canterbury,” said Simon. “Then I played for the Beavers, also at The Canterbury, before joining the Swifts at the Royal Oak in Bredon. I’ve been at Wye Emms since 1992.”

Wye Emms, under the captaincy of Timmy Goodwin, are one of the dominant teams in Tewkesbury, and it’s a sport Simon still thoroughly enjoys, both for the competition and for the social side.

But ask him which sport is his favourite and he’ll answer “pool” without a moment’s hesitation.

“You haven’t got to do too much running around,” he laughed. “I remember in the old days when pubs were only open from 12 until 2pm on Sunday lunchtimes. We used to queue outside The Canterbury from 11.45pm so we could get on the pool table.

“We’d play winner stays on for an hour and then killer for an hour for money, it was great fun.”