GOODNESS Gracious Me star Meera Syal joined students at Forest School in an ambitious three-hour show to celebrate Diwali, the Hindu festival of light.

The enjoyable event in the Deaton Theatre at the school in College Place, Walthamstow, raised well over £1,500 for Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital.

The celebration was the brainchild of sixth-formers Nina Pattani, Nisha Savjani, Jaanani Indrakumar, Kasthuri Krishnarajah, Anu Patel, Myuri Moorthy, Seema Rauniar and Harsimran Grewal.

They carried out the organisation from beginning to end, including inviting guests, preparing the programme, organising food and prizes and persuading people to take part.

Ms Syal, a Forest parent, instroduced and presented the concert.

The first half of the celebration was devoted to a variety of Inidan dances, traditional and modern, performed by pupils.

In the second half, pupils from Forest were joined by their contemporaries at Chigwell School to model traditional costumes from Chiffons of Forest Gate.

Then there was more dancing plus music from a live band, Dil Ruba.