Tomorrow evening Sandwell will join hundreds of communities up and down the country when it lights a special beacon to celebrate the Queen’s 90th birthday.

People will be able to see the beacon from miles around when it is lit at 8.30pm on Thursday 21 April. Sandwell Mayor Councillor Barbara Price will officially light the borough’s beacon on the Rowley Hills, near East Avenue. The best view of the beacon will be from the Oldbury area (the actual site where the beacon is lit is not suitable for spectators).

The Queen, accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall will light the principal beacon at Windsor Castle. It will be followed by the lighting of more than 1,000 beacons throughout the United Kingdom, Channel Islands, Isle of Man, UK overseas Territories and Commonwealth to celebrate the Queen’s landmark birthday.

The Army Cadet Force is taking special gas-fuelled beacons to the top of the four highest peaks in the UK, other beacons include Unst in the Shetland Islands, the most northerly beacon in Great Britain, and four beacons in the Virgin islands.

Beacons have previously been lit for:

• The Queen’s Silver Jubilee – 1977
• 50th Anniversary of VE Day – 1995
• Beacons for the Millennium – 1999
• The Queen’s Golden Jubilee – 2002
• The Trafalgar Weekend Beacons – 2005
• The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee – 2012
• 75th Anniversary of VE Day – 2015