A WOMAN was looking forward to representing her rugby team at Scotland's national stadium, fifteen years ago this week.
Charlotte Lewis, 25, was set to play at Murrayfield Stadium, in Edinburgh, in early May 2009.
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Miss Lewis, who grew up in Richmond, North Yorkshire, and attended Richmond School, joined the Royal Navy in 2007 and was based in Glasgow at the time.
She was due to take to the pitch on Saturday with her team, Hillhead Jordanhill, for the match against home side Murrayfield Wanderers.
Miss Lewis said: "I've always been a very sporty person, and I played hockey all through school.
"But when I was 20, I got a bit bored and fancied a change, so I started playing rugby for the Darlington women's side.
"I have played a lot of sports, but rugby has a certain something that I've never experienced with any other sport.
"It's very competitive and yet everyone is such good friends, it really is so much fun.
"I'm thrilled to be playing at Murrayfield - it is a dream come true for me."
Miss Lewis' father, Simon, who lives in Scorton, North Yorkshire, said: "We are all incredibly proud of Charlotte, she's done amazingly well."
The region's arguably most striking piece of public art took the first step towards its final resting place in April 2009.
In Our Image, a £165,000 sculpture of a head and shoulders that appears as if still under construction, was lifted out of the factory where it was being created.
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The 1.5 tonne head was hoisted out of Aycliffe Fabrications' workshop, in County Durham, so it could be connected to the shoulders.
Designed by Gateshead artist Joseph Hillier, the next step was for it to be painted before being installed at the main entrance to Aycliffe Business Park.
Mr Hillier said: "This is a very exciting and nerve-wracking stage of the project with the results of more than 18 months of work dangling from the end of a crane arm."
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