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Ken Jones, 91, recently moved into Croftlands independent living facility in Ossett, and was reminiscing with a neighbour about matchdays at Belle Vue.

Daughter Louise Ettles said: ”The other day, my dad got chatting to one of the other residents and found they both used to watch Wakefield Trinity as youngsters.

"He got out some drawings he had done of the players at that time to show some of the residents. One suggested he should send them in to the Wakefield Express.

91-year-old Wakefield Trinity fan Ken Jones has looked back on his boyhood support for his club and found cartoons of his favourite players and other artworks he drew when he was 12.
Picture Scott Merrylees — 91-year-old Wakefield Trinity fan Ken Jones has looked back on his boyhood support for his club and found cartoons of his favourite players and other artworks he drew when he was 12. Picture Scott Merrylees

"I’ve Googled the players to see when they were at Trinity and I would think he drew them around 1945/1946 when he was 13 or 14.

“He hasn’t drawn at all as an adult, but my 17-year-old daughter is now an amazing artist and two of my siblings had careers in art so I guess this is where the talent came from.”

He also has several wartime cartoon drawings he did when he was around the same time.

Mr Jones was a keen fan of the club during his teenage years.

He said: “I went for a good few years from when I was about 11 to about 16 – then I got more interested in girls.

"I used to cycle there from Crofton where I lived. It was about four miles to Trinity's ground and I used to go on my bike. I would drop off the bike with a friend of my sister who lived in a house near Belle Vue and walk the next 100 yards to the ground.

“There was no traffic in those days.”

Mr Jones was a student at Hemsworth Grammar School but left early to pursue a career in joinery.

He would later own shops in Batley and Ossett – Handyman Supplies on Commercial Street and Allwares on Station Road, respectively.

He completed national service in the RAF.

Mr Jones said he and his wife Erica, 87, were happy living at Croftlands.

He said: “They are amazing there. It's lovely, we have found our ideal spot for the remaining part of our life. Beautiful place, well run and the staff are perfect.”

Ken and Erica have four children, eight grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

Wakefield Trinity supporter digs out cartoons of favourite players he drew as a teeanger in the 1940s