A superhero, Victorian martial arts and 1,000 balloons helped give the Hampstead Summer Festival a fun-packed send-off at the weekend.

Spider-Man swung into action at Age UK’s Henderson Court Resource Centre in Fitzjohns Avenue, Hampstead, which hosted a summer bazaar to close the week-long festival.

Organiser Cllr Linda Chung, a member for Hampstead Town ward, was clearly swept off her feet by the lycra-clad crimefighter before she was pictured resting in his arms.

There was also a prize-giving for winners of the festival’s art competition, along with a tombola, raffle, cakes galore and a balloon race.

The race saw 1,000 helium balloons released over Hampstead and centre manager Laurie White explained: “People pay £2 for a balloon and each one has a card on it that says to whoever finds it ‘please return the card’.

“The one that is sent back from the furthest away within a month wins the race. That was quite a highlight.”

He added: “It was a good finale for the festival and we raised £1,377. That’s pretty good for a couple of hours in the afternoon.”

Mr White also said it was nice to have Spider-Man in attendance – even if his attempts to scale a wall did end badly with a little fall.

Meanwhile, Idler magazine, a publication devoted to doing nothing, held a garden party at Fenton House in Hampstead Grove as part of the festival.

The Idle Garden Party had a surprisingly busy schedule with dancing, drawing classes, ukulele performances and talks on philosophers Socrates and Plato, classical music and one on “idleness through the ages” given by the magazine’s co-founder, Tom Hodgkinson.

Visitors also learned the Victorian “gentleman’s martial art” of Bartitsu, while many simply got on with loafing in the National Trust property’s orchard with tea, cakes and gin cocktails.