Two charities received a welcome boost as they shared a pot of £21,000 raised by the Hampstead Summer Festival.

Hampstead charities Keats Community Library, in Keats Grove, and Henderson Court in Fitzjohn’s Avenue, an older people’s day centre run by Age UK Camden, were handed £10,500 each by the festival’s organisers.

The money raised by the annual event surpassed last year’s total of £20,000, which was also shared evenly by the same two causes.

A cheque presentation took place on Thursday (July 24) at Argentinian restaurant Gaucho in Heath Street, Hampstead, attended by the charities, festival organisers, and main sponsor Kaveh Shakib, a surgeon at the Royal Free Hospital.

Steven Bobasch, of Keats Community Library, said the money would help the charity to meet its annual costs of about £55,000.

“This is the biggest single contribution this year and it’s very important to us as we get nothing from any institutions,” he said.

Linda Chung, founder of the festival and a former Hampstead Town councillor, said: “We didn’t think we would meet our target to make the same level as last year, but we did and we exceeded it, which is a great achievement of our lovely sponsors and lovely volunteers who helped to make a success of it.”

The Hampstead Summer Festival will celebrate its fifth anniversary next year.