MORE than a dozen canvases depicting each decade of the Queen's life have been created by schoolchildren to hang in Oxford's County Hall.

Pupils in Bicester have been beavering away with pencils and paints in the run up to Her Majesty's official birthday on Saturday.

Each portrait depicts a decade in the Queen's 90 years and will be unveiled on Thursday by Oxfordshire's Lord-Lieutenant Tim Stevenson and Oxfordshire County Council chairman Michael Waine.

Mr Waine said: "Having already seen some of the artwork I can confirm that it is of a very high standard and I am sure councillors, council employees and members of the public will enjoy it a great deal.

"The 90th birthday of a monarch is an event of huge significance and it wonderful for young people from Bicester to be able to celebrate it in a way that also expresses their creativity and talents."

Across the county other villagers that have also been working hard on a royal masterpiece, including those in Ramsden, near Witney.

A cake weighing nearly 30kg has been constructed in red, white and blue glory for the village's fete this weekend.

The four-layered showpiece was created by joining a number of villagers' sponges under 6.5kg of icing, 4.6kg of jam, 1.5kg of butter and 2kg of icing sugar.

It will take centre-stage at the traditional summer fete and dog show on Saturday, June 11 among games, stalls and food from noon to 4pm.

One of the organisers Helen Pennant-Rae said: "We have been putting it all together, one layer red, one layer white and one layer blue and it is made up of 16 individual cakes one the bottom layer, then 9 cakes, four cakes and one on top."