THIS year’s Chinese New Year Lion Dance parade brought colour and life to a damp grey Winchester.

Members of the Chinese community danced their way down from the Upper High Street towards the city centre and all in a good cause.

To celebrate the Chinese New Year organiser Anita Hui orchestrated the lions in a ceremonial parade which raised exactly £328.88 – a lucky number in Chinese culture.

“We had to top it up a bit to get it to that number,” Anita said. “But it’s all for the charity Trinity to help the homeless.

“It was such a shame it was raining so heavily because the performance at the Buttercross would’ve been a real highlight of the parade.

“The celebrations started this morning at the university for all of the Chinese students there and then we headed to our restaurant Tanoshii where we had red pouches hanging from the ceiling with special letters in them,” she added. “The lions are meant to eat the letters for good fortune.”