A 13-year-old girl grew and then sold pumpkins as part of her batmitzvah project to raise money for orphans in Israel.

Hannah Keisner, whose family belong to West London Synagogue, decided to raise money for children’s charity, Emunah, after a trip to Israel with her mother.

Her mother, Alex Keisner, explained: “I’d taken her on a trip to Israel in February, and we visited the charity Emunah. I wanted her to find a charity she knew about, and had the experience of, so she could really see where her efforts would go.”

It was there that Hannah decided Emunah was the charity she wanted to help.

“I visited orphanages, and got to talk to the kids, and I realised I could actually help them. We are supposed to do a charity project for our batmitzvah, and I was born on Halloween, and I like pumpkins. My birthday was before my batmitzvah, so I wanted to combine the two, and my mum said we could grow pumpkins on her allotment to sell.”

Ms Keisner added: “Some of our more Orthodox friends were a bit confused by the project, ‘Jews and Halloween’ they thought, but it really worked.”

Hannah, who attends St Helen’s School in Northwood, managed to sell 30 pumpkins to friends, family and neighbours, raising over £200 for the Israeli charity.

West London Synagogue has promised to match what she raised, which means she hopes to have gathered “in the region of £1,000” for the charity.

“I didn’t think I could sell that much,” she said.