COLOURFUL greeting cards celebrating both Christmas and Eid have been designed by asylum seekers in Pendle.

People from various countries such as Romania and Iran, as well as support volunteers, worked together to create the cards which feature pictures of friendship and peace.

They also contain season's greetings in several different languages and verses from both the New Testament and the Koran encouraging peace.

One of the cards, which shows a blue sky and sea, a white dove and the world, was designed by Transylvanian asylum seeker and artist John Sarti. John, 51, escaped from his country and fled to England about a year ago after spending the past 25 years fighting for civil rights.

His own work, which is strongly influenced by his turbulent life under the dictator Ceausescu, includes images of the Statue of Liberty among icebergs and the Mona Lisa riding an elephant, which are all made out of junk mail and cuttings from magazines.

The alternative card in the selection was designed by an outreach worker at Building Bridges and features two pair of hands belonging to people of different races held tightly together.

Other asylum seekers helped to write the messages inside the cards and the printing was sponsored by Tristar Printers in Blackburn.

Packs of 10 cards are priced £1 to cover costs and are available from the Building Bridges office, 19 Market Square, Nelson.

They will also be on sale, along with traditional Kurdish soup, at the Caring Christmas Market in Nelson town centre tomorrow,, between 10am and 3.30pm.