At the end of last week many of you will have noticed a familiar name in the queen's birthday honours list - Hinckley's very own Vicky Macqueen was awarded a British Empire Medal for her services to women's sport and charity fundraising, and the club wants to send her massive congratulations.

Vicky has been around Hinckley rugby club for many years, always involved in the club even when playing her club rugby elsewhere as she drove on her international ambitions. In total she won 23 caps for England, winning her first game against Canada in 2004 and winning two six nations championships. She also represented England at sevens, went on to become a level 3 coach, had a period as head coach of Hinckley RFC and most recently has launched didi rugby, a rugby based multi- skills programme for children of 18 months and up.

Away from playing and coaching, she has travelled to South Africa delivering coaching to 100s of children in under-privileged environments and has raised over £10,000 for cancer research. She has also appeared on Sky Sports as a guest pundit during England women's fixtures.

Hinckley's director of rugby Paul Walsh said of Macqueen: 'Having been instrumental in introducing Vicky to rugby a long time ago, I have always known that she was going to be an inspirational figure in the development of the women's game. She broke the mould that said all female rugby players had to be certain shape and size and sent a message that it is possible to play rugby and all other sports at the highest level while still being an attractive and caring young woman. After retiring from playing Vicky has continued to give massive amounts of her time to helping others and no one deserves this award more. The first time that I saw her touch a rugby ball I told a few people - including Vicky's Mum -that she'd play for England one day and I was right. I didn't know what a fantastic person she'd turn out to be in every respect though - she's right up there at the top of a very strong list of famous John Cleveland former students! It's a proud day for me as well!'