She started as a schoolgirl, helping out with the wardrobe behind the scenes at the Alhambra. It turned out to be a stepping stone to an exciting career which would lead to her dressing stars including Riverdance supremo Michael Flatley, Just Good Friends actor Paul Nicholas and musical heartthrob Darren Day. And as if this thrilling job, which takes her all over the world wasn't enough, Caroline Summers also found love.

CAROLINE SUMMERS got married last year. Her wedding, at Saltaire's United Reformed Church, was an elegant affair, with the bride in a beautiful silk dress and delicate white veil. Among the guests was Darren Day, the popular star of the musical Joseph and his Technicolor Dreamcoat.

The wedding was everything she had hoped for - and the culmination of a fairy tale romance.

It all started at the Alhambra. Says Caroline, a former pupil of Buttershaw Upper School: "I was doing my GCSEs and I started going to the theatre helping with the wardrobe on different shows, making sure the costume changes ran smoothly. I did a few pantomimes and really enjoyed it, but never thought of it as a possible career."

After leaving school aged 18, she flew to America to work as a nanny. "It was my first time away from home so I was quite nervous, but it was great and I managed to do some travelling around."

When she got home she returned to the Alhambra. And it was while she was there that she met professional wardrobe mistress Trish McAuley, the woman she claims is responsible for her wonderful career.

Says Caroline: "We got on really well and she was just about to go on tour with Barry Manilow's show Copacabana. I couldn't believe it when she asked me if I'd like to go as her assistant."

The show toured the country and kept Caroline, who lives in Wibsey, busy for ten months. From there she moved to Singing in the Rain, where, among others, she dressed the show's star Paul Nicholas. Her job also involved looking after the wardrobe, making sure the costumes were laundered and ready for the cast to put on.

"I loved it," recalls Caroline, "It was a young cast, more my age, so we went out all the time - it was brilliant fun."

After the show ended she had a few months off. Work was slow in coming, but then she got a job in Blackpool, working for the show Summer Holiday starring Darren Day.

It was there, where she was dressing comic Faith Brown, that she met her husband-to-be. It was anything but love at first sight.

She confesses: "Rob was a sound engineer on the show and he used to come in with his shirt open and hairy chest hanging out - it was scary and I thought, "Oh, keep away from me!"

But she soon saw beyond his chest. "As I got to know him I started to like him and I realised that he liked me. We used to go out with a group and would end up together, talking."

But they never got together romantically. Then, one night, the couple made a pledge in the style of Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal in the hit film When Harry Met Sally.

"We both said that if we hadn't found anyone by the last night of the show we would sit together at our favourite table and tell each other "Well, maybe next time."

She added: "In the end, though, we didn't have to, because we got together before that.

The nature of the business being what it was, the pair were bound to have to go their separate ways sooner or later. Caroline found herself in Oslo with the musical Chess, while Rob went to Oxford to do a Christmas show. But they kept the romance going across the miles, speaking regularly on the phone. "My bill is huge," says Caroline.

It was a phone call that gave her the biggest break of her career. Says Caroline: "I had finished a show and wondered what I was going to do next. I was sitting in the Java caf and got a call from a friend who was wardrobe mistress with Lord of the Dance. She said she wanted me to join the show in South Africa. I was elated."

One of her tasks was to dress star Michael Flatley in the figure-hugging costumes that were as much his trademark as the fast and furious Irish dance. She liked him. "He was really nice, very easy to work with, very easy going."

Caroline warmed to the dancers. "Working in the theatre there are a lot of luvvies. Some people are down to earth, but there are the 'Dahling Sweeties.' Lord of the Dance is different - they are people all from different walks of life."

She moved with the show to work as wardrobe supervisor and dresser on Feet of Flames, a glittering spectacular in London's Hyde Park, where she had the honour of dressing Michael Flatley for his final performance before he retired.

Since then, she has travelled throughout Europe with Lord of the Dance. "It is living out of a suitcase and when I come home I find it really hard to unpack straight away - I know where everything is in my case. It's hard to separate the two lives."

And, she is keen to point out, it is not as glamorous as many people think. "We deal with all the clothes, including underwear and shoes, and we have to wash everything. But you really get to know the person you're dressing - you make a friend every time."

Rob proposed to her at the top of the Empire State Building in New York: "We were on holiday and he said "Do you fancy getting married?" He followed it up with an "official" proposal on bended knee, on the living room floor at Caroline's parents house in Little Horton. "He did it in front of my mum and dad and my mum burst into tears."

When they are driven apart by work, Caroline misses Rob, but she has never had to worry about his passion waning.

On Valentines Day she was working on Lord of the Dance in Leipzig, Germany, when Rob turned up out of the blue with a red rose. "He just flew over, he's like that."

Caroline has now been with Lord of the Dance for more than two years and continues to get a thrill out of what she does.

"It's a far from normal life and its hard being away from Rob but I love it. I've definitely found my soul mate."

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