Volunteers of a prestigious music and literary festival handed over cheques worth £60,000 to charities at an intimate parliamentary reception hosted by an MP.

Finchley and Golders Green MP Mike Freer invited the Proms of St Jude’s festival team to make the presentation at the House of Commons before giving everyone a private tour of the historic building.

The nine-day festival raised £15,000 for the North London Hospice in Finchley and £41,500 for Toynbee Hall, an anti-poverty charity in Tower Hamlets set up by Hampstead Garden Suburb founder Henrietta Barnett.

Ron Finlay, trustee of the Proms at St Jude’s festival, said: “The House of Commons added a sense of occasion. It was a nice opportunity to be able to do something extra for our volunteers who give a lot of their time each year.”