A SUPPLIER from Worcester-shire has joined forces with a celebrity chef to provide a feast fit for the Queen.

Supermarket chain Sains-bury's approached Middle Littleton-based Kanes Foods, near Evesham, and asked it to work alongside Jamie Oliver, to provide a salad for the Queen and 2,000 young guests at her 80th birthday party at Buckingham Palace.

Kanes Foods, which is the supermarket's preferred supplier of salad bowls, was given a brief by The Naked Chef, who is the face of Sainsbury's.

The company produced a variety of salads for him to sample and he selected a mix of lambs lettuce, red chard and piquant mustard and cress, baby spinach, sungold and baby cherry tomatoes.

The company will provide about 6,000 bowls, washed and ready to eat, to accompany a traditional picnic, at the Children's Party at The Palace, on Sunday, June 25.

Sales and marketing director at Kanes, Jeremy Folkard, said: "We are delighted to be involved with it and it gives us an opportunity to put some really lovely products together, which the children can enjoy." He said the freshness of the produce was key to its quality. "A lot of the ingredients will be grown locally so it's harvested, washed and packed in a very short time span," he said. Mr Folkard said he did not get the chance to meet Jamie Oliver in person, but was thrilled to have worked with him on the menu.

He said the salads would probably be prepared a day or two before the event and transported to the palace.

The event will celebrate British children's literature, with children, their families and favourite storybook characters invited. At 6pm, granddaughter of famous children's author Roald Dahl, model Sophie Dahl, will introduce a live show for the BBC.