CURRY houses across the county – including West Oxfordshire – came together to raise nearly £15,000 for charity.

Some of Oxfordshire’s leading curry houses donated half of all their takings last Wednesday to Oxfam – which will use the funds to support Rohingya Muslim refugees in Bangladesh.

The manager of Witney’s The Curry Paradise, in High Street, went one further and offered customers half-price meals – donating 100 per cent of the restaurant's takings to the cause.

Mohammed Ahaya, who raised more than £550 on the night, said: “I was really keen to do what I could to help so I was happy to get involved – and it turned out really well.

“I decided to charge my customers half price on the night because they were doing something to help charity – so everybody was a winner.

“I’m really proud to be a part of the fundraiser.”

Mr Ahaya said he met with the owners of the other curry houses across the county recently.

He said the group planned to raise about £24,000 and was still thinking up ways to do more to reach that target.

Restaurants in Oxford, Witney, Burford, Abingdon, Didcot took part in the one-night fundraiser last week.

The curry houses and Oxfam came together after witnessing the plight of Rohingya Muslims who have fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh.

Nearly 370,000 people crossed into Bangladesh in the past four weeks, doubling the number of people seeking refuge in the south east of the country.

The existing camps in Bangladesh are ill-equipped to handle the huge numbers of people who are in need desperate need of shelter, clean water, toilets and food.

Women, children, older people and those with disabilities are especially vulnerable. Oxfam initially plans to help 200,000 people.

As well as The Curry Paradise, other participating curry houses included Dil Raj in Abington, Spice Lounge in Burford, Little India in Didcot, Jaflong in Bicester, Jee Saheb in Oxford and many others.

MB Akhter, the interim country director for Oxfam in Bangladesh, described the difficult situation many of the refugees are currently facing.

He said: “People face a desperate situation. They have no clean drinking water and no food. They are homeless and hungry following a long and treacherous journey across the border.

"Many are now sleeping under open skies, by roadsides and in forests, with no protection.

“People are physically and emotionally traumatised.”