Gwen Whiteley

Gwen started coming to Mount Pleasant with her Mum when she was just 4 years old. Uncle Jim and Jonny both played for Batley Bulldogs and her Mum used to serve Garside pork pies and tea at the tea hut by the cricket pavilion across from the club. One of Gwen’s earliest memories was dragging the water urn across to the pitch. “I served tea for me Mum, there was no coffee in them days” “Me Grandmother never liked rugby but always asked passersby who’d won”

Gwen has stayed at the club ever since, even a move to Wakefield, where she met her husband Ken, a Wakefield supporter, didn’t dampen her enthusiasm for the club and she has run the raffle for Batley Bulldogs for years raising £1000’s for new seating, a new oven and other essentials.

Photo credit Terry Swift

August 2010, Gwen celebrates the Northern Rail Cup Victory with an open-top bus parade and a Civic Reception hosted by the Mayor of Kirklees.