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Tea ladies: All the ladies who currently help with the cricket club. Bernice Gaskin is fourth from right, front row

Groundsman Arnie Gaskin with Old Bessie, the roller, and Sophie, the dog

Some of the players children outside the pavilion in 1964; from left, Sally Gaskin, Michael Helliwell, Tim Pope, Susan and Alison Helliwell and Keith Gaskin

Cricketers' wives may not have the same ring to it as footballers' wives, but the ladies who have been supporting Alvaston and Boulton Cricket Club for the past 50 years believe they have as much fun.

To mark the club's 150th anniversary, they have added their memories to a booklet – 150 Not Out – published to celebrate the occasion. Pat Parkin talked to one of the longest-serving WAGS, Bernice Gaskin (nee Foulke).

Long before anyone came up with a description for the wives and girlfriends of footballers, Bernice Foulke was one of Alvaston's answers to the WAGS.

Back in the 1950s, she was 16 and had just met the love of her life, Arnie Gaskin, while at a dance in Derby.

He invited her to go along one Saturday afternoon to watch him play for Alvaston and Boulton Cricket Club and she was quickly recruited to do what girlfriends and wives of cricketers have always done – make the teas.

More than half a century later, having progressed from girlfriend to wife to mother, she still occasionally helps out the ladies' tea team.

"I hardly feel we were WAGS," said Bernice. "We didn't compete with each other buying designer clothes, or with our hairstyles or make-up; we didn't have that much money.

"It was just accepted that wives and girlfriends would help out the lads' mothers to make the sandwiches and bake some cakes. It's gone on forever."

She and some of the other girlfriends at the time, including Angela Hodgetts, Pam Lakin and Mary Schofield, did either Saturday teas – when the lads would get ham or pilchards served with salad, bread and butter and cake – or Sunday teas, when it was sandwiches and home-made cakes.

The girls all got on well. There was a lot of laughter and fun and, as the years passed, they forged family friendships which have lasted more than half a century.

"After we married and had children, then we used to spend a lot of time at the club. The kids made friends and loved to play there while their dads played cricket and their mums did the teas.

"It was a nice sociable atmosphere. Actually, I think if a man has a family and plays cricket, it's far better for family life than most other sports because everyone can go along."

Arnie is now club president, having begun 53 years ago as a player and progressed on to be groundsman, captain and chairman.

In Arnie and Bernice's early days at the club, few of the players owned cars and the players and their families travelled together to away matches on public transport.

This involved meeting outside the local pub, the Blue Peter, to catch a bus into Derby, then boarding at least two others when the games were being held some distance away.

Said Bernice: "We would travel along carrying the club bag which housed all the kit, including bats, pads, gloves etc for the whole team. It all had to go on the bus, along with pushchairs for the children and all the other passengers. I sometimes wonder how today's players would manage without cars."

After their marriage in 1958, the couple had similar transport problems for home matches when they set up home in Chaddesden. It meant either two bus journeys via town or a long walk along Raynesway to get to the cricket ground.

"Most Sundays, Arnie would be doing work at the ground and he would walk there, pushing our daughter Sally in the pram, while I took our son Keith on two buses to get to his parents' home in Alvaston for lunch.

"Arnie and Sally would join us; then we would all go back to the ground for Arnie to play and me to help with the cricket teas.

"Then, at the end of the game in the evening, we would push the pram and two babies back home up Raynesway. We must have totted up five miles each way. What dedication for cricket," laughed Bernice.

Her memories, along with those of numerous cricket club members, are included in a new book, 150 Not Out, which has been published to mark the 150th anniversary of the club's formation.

Formed in October 1857, their first ground was on a farmer's field behind St Michael and All Angels' Church at Alvaston, which players had to clear of cattle and cowpats before they could begin a game.

Later they moved on to enjoy better facilities and, over the years, have enjoyed great successes. Despite losing most of their records in two disastrous fires, the club, believed to be the oldest in the city, has managed to get together photographs and documents to fill the book.

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County:  Derbyshire

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