HUNDREDS of worshippers last night celebrated the biggest festival in their religious calendar – Diwali.

The city’s Hindus and Sikhs celebrated their new year in style with colourful fireworks, prayers and dance.

As part of the second day of Diwali celebrations to mark the beginning of the new year visitors enjoyed sharing 200 dishes of traditional curries and sweets yesterday evening at Southampton’s Vedic Society Hindu Temple.

There was also singing and prayers, as well as a special choreographed routine to mark the festival of lights known as Diwali or Deepaavali, which means a row of lights.

One of the highlights of the evening was the presentation of an £11,000 cheque from the temple to The Yala Fund, which helps victims of the tsunami which devastated south-east Asia on Boxing Day 2004.

The money was raised from donations over 18 months and since then the temple’s trustees have been looking for a suitable charity.

They chose the Yala Fund set up by former Times journalist Jon Ashworth after one of the temple’s trustees Rajkuma Chadda found all the money would go directly to helping families in Sri Lanka caught up in that disaster.

The Diwali festival, which celebrates the victory of good over evil, light over darkness and knowledge over ignorance was also marked in Sikh temples across the city.