Libraries chief John Thomson can expect to be brought to book when he attends a public meeting in Aldbourne tonight at which the future of the village library will be discussed.

The Gazette was invited to attend an impromptu show of strength by villagers on The Green on Tuesday and, despite a non-stop downpour, dozens of people joined in.

Many of them brought along their wheelie bins with stickers on saying Don’t Bin Our Library.

Going by the strength of feeling in the village there will probably not be an empty seat in the Memorial Hall tonight at 7.30pm when libraries Cabinet member Coun Thomson faces a grilling over why Wiltshire Council wants to pull out of running the Aldbourne Library as part of a county cost cutting exercise.

Aldbourne may have the smallest library in Wiltshire but the villagers love it and have made it clear they will fight to retain it. They say they don’t want it to be run by volunteers as Wiltshire Council has suggested and want their part time librarian Trish Rushen to stay.

The library in The Square is open on Monday and Thursday afternoons and evenings for a total of ten hours a week.

Aldbourne has a thriving Children’s Book Club whose members use the library.

Mum Claire Ashley said her nine-year-daughter Annabel and seven-year-old son Hugh, both book club members, use it all the time. Mrs Ashley said: “The children use it every week and are in the school reading club.

“The library provides them with the opportunity to read many books they would otherwise not have access to.”

Mrs Ashley said: “If it was run totally by volunteers I believe it would turn out to be a terrible disappointment...we need to have a professional librarian.”

Retired journalist Chris Wheare is one of the villagers who persuaded the parish council to call tonight’s meeting and she said: “Feelings are running very high in Aldbourne as demonstrated when villagers packed into the parish council meeting last Wednesday.”