If someone says they’re involved with Forest Green, a good number of people would probably think that they’re talking about the football club that are riding high in League Two these days.

But there are other sporting clubs that carry the name Forest Green, including the table tennis club, and they, like the footballers are doing rather well.

In fact the table tennis players are doing very well because their A team won the Stroud League Division One title last season.

One of their driving forces is Dave Adamson, who is the A team’s captain and who, at the age of 68, was a key part of their title success last season as a player.

Adamson, originally from south London, has been part of the Forest Green set-up for close on 30 years and he said: “We’ve got three teams competing in the Stroud League. As a club we’re very well respected, we’ve always been strong.”

And age is certainly no barrier to playing a good level of table tennis because alongside Adamson in last season’s title-winning success were two players who can also remember the Beatles in their heyday.

So who were the other two members?

“Our chairman Alan Giles,” said Adamson. “He’s 77 and he’s been with the club for 40-plus years. He’s dropped into the Division Two team this season and he’s hardly lost a game.”

And who was the third member of the team?

“Dave Harvey,” continued Adamson. “He’s 69 and he’s been a top, top player for many years. If you add up all our ages that’s more than 200 years!”

The A team are much younger this season. Marcus Holba, who was an important member of the team last year, is leading way and Adamson is impressed, saying: “He’s playing exceptionally well, his game has gone the extra step. We’re trying to encourage the younger players.”

And while Adamson, who moved to Wotton-under-Edge in 1972 and now lives in Chipping Sodbury, isn’t playing as much this season, he’s still giving plenty to the sport.

“I’m vice-chairman of the Stroud Table Tennis League and I’m also a qualified coach,” he said. “I coach at a young offenders’ institute and I also coach a group of over-50s in Gloucester and a group of over-70s.

“You can play table tennis up to 85 and it helps to stave off dementia through mental reaction as well as movement and co-ordination.

“I’m one of those people who likes to put back in what they’ve got out.”

When Adamson first moved to this part of world he was a footballer, playing for Kingswood where he was also secretary for a number of years.

“I gave up football in the 80s,” he explained, “and I thought, ‘What do I do now?’

“I remembered I used to like table tennis so I joined a club in Wotton-under-Edge called The Pessimists.”

That club are no longer in existence but Adamson’s table tennis has “gone from strength to strength”.

And what about his wife Sylvia, what does she think of his involvement in the sport?

“She says she’s a table tennis widow,” he laughed.