A Watford festival held in memory of two parents who passed away from cancer has raised thousands for charity.

Hundreds flocked to Sun Fest 2014, held at the Sun Postal Sports and Social Club, in Bellmount Wood Avenue, on Saturday.

Claire and Jo Nickless organised the event with their friend, Dave Coleman, after both lost a parent to cancer.

Claire and Jo lost their father, Gary, to cancer in December 2012. Gary was, who was 56 when he passed away, received care at Peace Hospice Care.

Claire and her fiancé, Sam Lynden, are raising money for the Watford hospice, while Jo and Dave are raising money for Cancer Research UK after Dave lost his mother, Maureen, to the illness.

Claire, 30, said: "This festival has really been Jo and Dave’s project and it has been amazing. Since Christmas they have been organising it. 

"For the past eight months Sun Fest has become our lives. It’s amazing and really exciting that the four of us have been involved and met regularly every week to sort everything out. It has been a big project but completely worth it."

The event started at noon and there were lots of stalls selling a range of goods, including refreshments.

A host of activities were on offer, especially for children. 

Some of the favourites included a bungee trampoline and water zorbing - something which Claire said she was envious was just for the youngsters.

Live bands and singers performed throughout the day, with DJ sets taking over in the evening.

The popular event ran until midnight and charged £8 for adults and £2 for children under 12.

Claire, who is a sales manager at Watford Palace Theatre, said she thinks the event attracted about 600 people and raised about £6,000, with the final amount still being counted.

Claire said: "It’s an incredible achievement for the first time we’ve done it. We went into it a bit blind at first as we’ve never done anything like this before but it has been amazing and we want to do it again next year."