WATCH: Harmony For You pen tune for Queen's 90th birthday

Harmony For You members (left to right) Jim Gillies, Joan Carter, Jean Watson, Bill Quigley and Norma Bolingbrooke on keyboard.

Harmony For You will help mark Thursday’s celebrations with a song they have penned in honour of Queen Elizabeth, at a gig held in their home village.

The group has written She Still Reigns, which will be performed to visitors to Whitburn Library on the day she reaches her 90th birthday.

The song has already won recognition from Buckingham Palace, with the monarch sending the band a letter.

Bill Quigley, 76, who plays guitar and whistle, said: “I asked the lady in the library if we could go along and play music for the Queen’s birthday, and she said she would like that.

“I thought we must do something for the Queen’s birthday and that’s why I suggested it to her.

“I think the Queen is brilliant, I really do, and that’s why I wrote the songs for her.

Harmony For You singers Joan Carter, (left) and Jean Watson.

“It’s got a bit of a baroque feel to it, but it’s also modern.”

The group has been going for five years and also features Jean Watson, 69, on vocals, Joan Carter, 69, who sings and plays mandolin, Alan Steele, 67, who also sings and composes songs, Jim Gillies, 59, on guitar and piano and Norma Bolingbroke, who is 83 and plays piano and keyboards.

The letter from the Queen’s lady in waiting to Bill says: “The Queen wishes me to thank you , and the members of your singing group for your letter enclosing a CD of a song you have composed.

“The Queen was pleased to hear from you again and to know that you continue to enjoy singing together and entertaining others.”

The band makes regular visits to care homes, hospitals, churches and Women’s Institute groups and specialises in tracks from the 1950s through to the late 1970s, especially pop songs and old standards.

Members are disappointed their entry to the Eurovision Song Contest, If a Voice Could Reach That Far, was rejected, but are excited ahead of this week’s birthday event for the Queen.

Thursday’s show by the group, which is also known as Harmony IV You, will take place at 2pm and is free.

Beacons will be lit across the country as communities join in the celebrations.

One will be on the Lawe Top in South Shields, with another at Cliffe Park in Seaburn. The beacons are due to be lit at about 8.15pm, after the Queen lights one of her own, to signal the start of the event.