  This paper explores the X-ray properties of `normal' galaxies using a shallow
XMM-Newton survey covering an area of ~1.5deg2. The X-ray survey overlaps with
the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey. Compared with previous studies this has the
advantage of high quality spectra and spectral classifications to bj=19.4.
Moreover, sources with optical spectra revealing powerful AGNs can easily be
discarded from the normal galaxy sample used here. In particular, we present
stacking analysis results for 200 galaxies from the 2dFGRS at <z>=0.1. We
detect a strong signal for the whole sample (~6sigma) in the soft 0.5-2keV band
corresponding to a flux of ~7*10^-16cgs and a luminosity of ~2*10^40cgs. A
statistically significant signal is also detected for both the early and late
galaxy sub-samples with X-ray luminosities of ~3*10^40 and ~5*10^39cgs
respectively. In contrast, no signal is detected in the hard 2-8keV band for
any of the above samples. The mean L_X/L_B ratio of the spiral galaxy sample is
consistent with both local (<100Mpc) and distant (z~1) samples suggesting
little or no evolution of the X-ray emission mechanisms relative to the
optical. The 0.5-2keV XRB contribution of the spiral galaxy sub-sample at z~0.1
is estimated to be 0.4% in broad agreement with the XRB fractions estimated in
previous studies.Assuming that star-forming galaxies evolve with redshift as
(1+z)^{k} the present data combined with previous studies suggest k<3. The k
values are constrained by the relatively low fraction of the soft X-ray
background that remains unresolved by deep surveys (6-26%). The mean X-ray
emissivity of spiral galaxies at z~0.1 is also estimated and is found to be
consistent within the uncertainties with that of local HII galaxy samples.
