HUNDREDS of people turned out to a meeting to try to stop the closure of Tadcaster library.

More than 250 people crammed into the Riley Smith Hall, in Tadcaster, on Monday night in response to county council proposals to close the town’s library.

The meeting, organised by Tadcaster Town Council, heard presentations from Derek Law, the corporate director for adult and community services at the county council and Chrys Mellor, the general manager for libraries.

Tadcaster library is one of 22 earmarked for closure as the county council seeks to make a 31 per cent cut in the library budget.

The strong feeling of the meeting was that the library – which won an award in 2009 as best library in North Yorkshire – should be kept open as it provided an excellent service to the local community.

A statement by Geoff Mitchell, the head teacher at Tadcaster Grammar School, expressed strong support from the school for keeping the library open.

At the end of the meeting, over 80 people volunteered their interest in working with the town council to keep the library open.