A RETIRED artist from Bewdley was gobsmacked to find out that her painting of Larry the Cat has been hung on the wall of 10 Downing Street.

Moira Jandrell, aged 66, decided to paint the Downing Street cat after seeing him on the news and planned to present the picture to the Duke of Gloucester when he visited the town to unveil the statue of Stanley Baldwin last September.

She hoped the painting would help to raise awareness of her favourite charity, Cats Protection, but when the frame got damaged, Moira decided to reframe the picture and send it to Number 10 directly.

Kidderminster Shuttle:

Moira, who taught art to people with special needs before her retirement, said: "I wanted to give the painting to the Duke as a present from Bewdley but it all went terribly wrong. It wasn't good enough to give to the Duke so I sent it in the post instead.

"I was gobsmacked when I received a letter back from 10 Downing Street saying how uncanny the likeness is.

"It said how everybody talks about it and that they've put my picture up in the historic garden rooms."

Moira has her own rescue cat called Polly and describes herself as a dog and cat lover.

She added: "Cats Protection is a charity I support, so I thought I'd do this to benefit them and raise awareness of the charity. They desperately need donations."

Natasha Hill, manager of Cats Protection's Catitude Boutique in Bewdley, said: "The painting of Larry is just fabulous and we appreciate it so much that someone would take the time and effort to do something like this to help raise awareness of the work we do.

"Moira is an incredibly talented lady and we couldn't ask for more than someone's time.

"If people want to support Cats Protection, they can visit their local shop, donate in store or over the phone or donate online. We also have a monthly subscription.

"People can also volunteer their time - a couple of hours each week is a massive help."

Prints of Moira's painting are available to buy at the Load Street shop. Visit cats.org.uk.