Impressive portraits of mums sketched by their children are being proudly displayed in Ilford after the drawings won a competition.

Six drawings entered into the Mother’s Day Portrait Competition, sponsored by The Exchange Ilford, were selected from 180 entrants by Recorder editor Chris Carter.

He chose a winner from each of the six schools which took part in the competition, and on Friday the youngsters and their mums were at The Exchange Ilford to pick up a large poster of the portraits, a �10 cheque and a �25 cheque for their school.

Thorntons presented each proud mum with an assortment of chocolate gifts, while Marks & Spencer donated flowers.

Jayne Burton, marketing manager of The Exchange Ilford, said: “The standard and quality of the portraits created by the children was extremely high.

“Each portrait seemed to have captured the essence of each child’s mother, and they were obviously executed with a great deal of passion.”

The winners were: Irah Jhumka, 10, of Cleveland Junior School; Harjot Singh, 10, of Cranbrook Primary School; Richard Klein, seven, of Dersingham Primary School; Sherene Senior, eight, of Northbury Junior School; Amelie Ngombo of St Winefride’s Roman Catholic School and Benazir Gashi, nine, of Uphall Primary School.

All the Mother’s Day portraits will be displayed at The Exchange Ilford on the third level until April 16.