Singing, chanting and bright colours filled the Hare Krishna Temple yesterday as worshippers celebrated its 40th anniversary in Britain.

The Bhaktivedanta Manor, in Aldenham, is the Hare Krishna’s largest temple in the UK. The ceremony, which started at 10am, attracted over 1,000 guests and featured 50 robed priests.

There was chanting of 10,000-year-old Sanskrit prayers, ancient costumes and devotional singing to the accompaniment of Indian drums and cymbals.

The day also saw a holy Hindu ritual called a Yajna, where robed priests poured sanctified offerings of clarified butter into four sacred fires.

The Beatles’ George Harrison donated the country manor house, now called Bhaktivedanta Manor, with its 78 acres of land, a lake and forests to the religious movement in 1973.