There was a history lesson for the 250 guests at a garden party on Sunday celebrating Kingsbury United Synagogue's 80th anniversary.

An exhibition covered life at the north London congregation from its early days through to the opening of an Orthodox Jewish primary school for girls, Bnos Beis Yaakov, on the synagogue premises.

Jonathan Brody, the party organiser, said the growth of the school had "helped to keep the community viable".

Although numbers had fallen, Kingsbury "still has a minyan twice a day, seven days a week, and about 40 people on Shabbat.

"There are larger communities that aren't able to do that," Mr Brody pointed out.

Those at the celebration included Kingsbury bar- and batmitzvah celebrants from the 1950s and the children of former synagogue officers who had made aliyah.

Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis and Brent Mayor Councillor Parvez Ahmed were among the special guests at the party.