The Princess of Wales has commended a rugby league club for its 'gold dust' support to the local community during a visit to West Yorkshire. Kate toured Wakefield Trinity's ground as part of a day in northern England, where she met schoolgirls training for rugby, elderly residents taking part in a quiz, and teenagers at risk of exclusion from school.
Speaking to a group of supporters aged from their 60s to 90s at the club's In Touch events, organised by the Wakefield Trinity Community Foundation to combat isolation, Kate said: 'I love this, the league game is so embedded in community life and it's so grassroots interaction... They're absolute gold dust really, and I'm so proud to help support the league across the country.'
Earlier, the princess visited Family Action's children's trauma therapy service in Bradford, where she met a five-year-old girl who showed her a 'potion' to ward off bad dreams. Kate also braved Storm Chandra for a walk in the Peak District with charity Mind Over Mountains, telling the group: 'Nothing is going to stop us.'
Luke Shale, head of Wakefield Trinity's Community Foundation, said after the visit: 'We try and hit every supporter that we've got in the club... from babies to some that are near 100 years old.' He noted Kate was impressed with the girls playing rugby league, a sport often seen as male-oriented.
