East Ham MP Stephen Timms was among hundreds of guests who enjoyed an evening’s entertainment at Newham Town Hall on Saturday.

He was joined by Newham councillors Paul Sathianesan and Jose Alexander at this year’s Pongal Festival celebrations.

The MP presented certificates to successful GCSE students from the Tamil language school which meets weekly at Plashet School.

He said: “It was a lively and colourful celebration, and the Town Hall was packed. London Tamil Sangam has been serving the community for over fifty years. It has a full programme at its base in High Street North, and it deserves the very impressive local support which, on this showing, it continues to enjoy.”

The event was organised by the London Tamil Sangam which was established as a registered charity in 1960.

Sethurajan Balasubramanian, director of the London Tamil Sangam, said: “The event was very successful and our Newham south Indian communities enjoyed the event.

“There were around 600 people had attended the festival. Most of them are from Newham families and some of them came from various part of UK.

“Pongal is a thanksgiving or harvest festival celebrated in South India at the end of the harvest season. It is one of the most important festivals celebrated by the Tamils in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.”