A PENKETH gamekeeper presented a painting to the Queen for her 80th birthday.

John Clarke rears pheasants for the Queen near Clitheroe in Lancashire.

The 37-year-old painted a scene from the estate and gave it to her when she made a recent visit.

"He said if you could have seen her face you could tell she was pleased," said mum Pat, aged 71.

Pat brought her family up on Meeting Lane and in Hood Manor with husband, also called John, aged 72.

Their son John, a former pupil at Penketh Junior, Senior and High Schools, left schooling at 16 to study to become a gamekeeper in Blackpool, despite a teacher's recommendations that he should go to art school.

"He has started painting on commission now," said Pat.

"When they heard the Queen was coming, the estate manager said to John: 'I can't think of anybody better to paint her a present than you'."

John now lives on the Duchy of Lancaster Estate where he works, raising around 9,000 pheasants a year.

Founded in the 13th century, the Duchy of Lancaster is a portfolio of land, property and assets held in trust for the Queen, and covering 18,700 hectares across England and Wales.

Pat, a former shop worker at Russells Furnishings in Buttermarket Street, now lives with her husband in Ryfields Retirement Village, Norris Street, near the town centre.