THE Queen has been presented with a porcelain sculpture of her favourite riding pony, created by a Malvern company and a team of local craftsmen.

The Bronte Porcelain Company, of Hanley Road, made the piece, which was commissioned by the Royal Warrant Holders Association of Windsor and Eton.

Bronte directors Bob Price and Henry Sandon were at Windsor Castle on Tuesday (April 24), when the Queen was presented with the sculpture as an 80th birthday present by the association's president Adrian Benge.

Mr Price said that receiving the commission for such a prestigious occasion was a real honour for the company.

"I'd never met the Queen before in my life and I'm not likely to again. She was really, really nice," said Mr Price, who was told that the sculpture would be displayed in the monarch's private apartments.

The sculpture shows the pony Balmoral Curlew, which was home bred by the Queen from the stallion Balmoral Moss. All of the Queen's ponies have the prefix Balmoral.

Balmoral Curlew is a Highland pony, the largest and strongest breed of Britain's mountain and moorland ponies. It was a prolific winner in the show ring, achieving supreme champion at the Royal Windsor Horse Show.

Modelled by Bronte sculptor Graeme Gordon, the horse figure was hand-painted by the firm's artist Tracey Arrowsmith. It was mounted on a mahogany plinth made by Wells Joinery of Malvern and polished by French polisher Dave Parker of North Malvern.

Bone china panels set into the plinth were hand-painted with scenes of Windsor and Balmoral Castles by Bronte's special commission artist Tony Young.

On the front of the plinth was a sculpted plaque depicting the Queen's lesser arms and on the reverse a plaque with calligraphy in gold, by Malvern calligrapher Will Jones, recording the event.

"In all, it's been a great team effort and one which has made everyone involved very proud," said Mr Price.