An event celebrating the Nepalese and Vishnu New Year was held across Cumbria’s NHS support services.

Dilisa Pun, from North Cumbria Integrated Care’s (NCIC) e-roster team, ‘organised special food for her colleagues and collected donations for the Gurkha Welfare Trust’, an NCIC spokesperson said.

Nepalese New Year starts today (April 14), and will be 2082 as per the Bikram Sambar calendar.

Vishnu New Year starts on Sunday, April 14, for the Malayali ethnic group in Kerala, India.

“Dilisa spent two weeks preparing dishes such as chicken curry, aloo dum, chicken cutlets and a number of gluten free versions,” the NCIC spokesperson added.

Ms Pun said: “This year I decided to invite my colleagues to celebrate with me so I put on this event.

“I spent about two weeks deciding what to cook and on the day of the event, I was up at 4am putting the finishing touches to the dishes.

“In Nepal we celebrate New Year a bit like in the UK. It’s a social thing with family and friends.

“We have food and music and we hope for a good year ahead.

“I decided to raise funds for the Gurkha Welfare Trust because my father and grandfather and other relatives fought in Burma and the Falkland Wars so I wanted to give something back and show that we appreciate them.”