Friends of Barham and Preston Library will hand out free books to adults and children

Keen readers are encouraged to head to a sports centre in Wembley where a community library will be giving away free books.

Friends of Barham Library (FOBL) will be handing out 100 books for adults and children alike at Vale Farm Sports Centre in honour of World Book Night (WBN).

The giveaway, on Tuesday, April 23, will run from 3.30pm to 7.30pm or until all the books have been snapped up.

WBN is a national event aimed at encouraging people of all ages to read. As part of the event, local volunteers are provided with a selection of different books to give away free of charge.

FOBL has been campaigning for more than a year to have Barham Library re-opened after it was shut down in October 2011.

The reading room, in Barham Park, was one of six axed by the council in order to save £1million.

Other library campaigners from Wembley will also be joining in the book give-away for World Book Night.

Geraldine Cook and Sula Kwong, both members of Friends of Preston Library, will be giving away 20 books each during Tuesday’s celebration.

The books which will be given away are Tracy Chevalier’s Girl with a Pearl Earring and A Short History of the World by Ernst Gombrich.

They will be distributed at supermarkets including ASDA, in various schools, at residential homes and on the street and at workplaces.

Preston Library, in Carlton Avenue East, was one of six shut down by Brent Council in October last year.

Friends of Preston Library will also be outside the old library building between 6pm and 8pm.

They will be giving away books which they have collected for their community library in nearby Preston Road.