Alton’s Allen Gallery handed over its garden to seven charities, who each manned stalls to publicise their activities, swell their funds and enable visitors to have some fun taking part in various activitie.

Jamie Allen, manager of the Curtis Museum and Allen Gallery, said: “We offer free space to charities at this event as a gesture of goodwill to the community, and this year we were delighted with the response as it attracted over 170 visitors – well in excess of our normal figures for a Saturday.

“We were also lucky that the sun shone on us.”

The charities involved were ALFI, Local Mencap’s Greenfingers project, Alton Men’s Shed, Alton and Petersfield Multiple Sclerosis Society, the Alton Society, Alton and Basingstoke Cardiac Rehab and the Friends of the Curtis Museum and Allen Gallery.

“A lot of people had never heard of Mens’ Shed,” explained Ian Scott from Alton Men’s Shed. “This was a wonderful opportunity to tell them what we are about and maybe to join us one day themselves.”

Stefan John, from Greenfingers, said the fete was an opportunity to inform the public about his work and sell plants and produce that his service users had grown.

“Having a stall at this fete gave me the opportunityto make some money for the project and to show people what adults with learning disabilities are capable of doing.”

It was the second year that the fete had taken place and it is now expected to become an annual event.