TWO Huddersfield firms have completed a royal assignment in double-quick time.

The Queen is set to unveil a foundation stone at Huddersfield University when she visits the town tomorrow.

Johnson Wellfield Quarries at Crosland Hill has supplied the stone, while a Marsh-based monumental mason has carved the inscription.

The foundation stone has been placed near the entrance to the university's creative arts centre, which is being built on the Queensgate campus.

Theresa Flack, of Johnson Wellfield Quarries, said the firm swung into action after getting a call from scheme contractor HBG Construction.

"We were asked to supply a foundation stone at extremely short notice," she said.

"We agreed to find production space in our very full order book after being told a very important person was visiting the site.

"Initially, the identity of the person was top secret. We now know it to be the Queen."

Fred Evans, of J F Evans, said he was asked by university estates manager Colin Blair to help out.

Mr Evans, who has been a monumental mason for almost 40 years, said: "It is nice to be asked and to get the recognition."

The wording wasn't carved by hand. These days, the company programmes a special machine to shotblast the lettering into the stone.

It is not the first time the two firms have answered a 'royal command'.

Johnson Wellfield Quarries provided the stone to mark the opening of London's Globe Theatre by the Prince of Wales - when Fred Evans again came up with the words.