Rock stars auction off memorabilia to help pay High Court challenge costs

A host of music stars have been backing the �campaign to save Kensal Rise Library.

Nick Cave, Depeche Mode, Pet Shop Boys and Goldfrapp are just some of the celebrities who have been auctioning off memorabilia online to raise funds for a judicial �review.

Cave donated handwritten lyrics of Where The Wild Roses Grow, a collaboration with Kylie Minogue in 1995, which are expected to go for more than �600.

Depeche Mode, Pet Shop Boys, Goldfrapp and JLS are all auctioning signed CDs.

A spokesman for Depeche Mode said: “Depeche Mode wishes the campaign the best of luck with their legal challenge and hopes the signed album they have donated helps raise funds for the legal costs.”

Meanwhile, a date has been set for the judicial review which will challenge Brent Council’s decision to close half of the borough’s reading rooms.

The case will be heard at the High Court over two-and-a-half-days starting on July 19.

If the campaigners win, it will be a landmark case and could set a precedent on �library closures across the country.

The council decided to shut Preston, Barham Park, Tokyngton, Neasden, Cricklewood and Kensal Rise �libraries earlier this year to save �1million.

Law firm, Bindmans LLP, will be acting on behalf of the group.

Margaret Bailey, co-chair of the campaign to save �Kensal Rise Library, said: “A lot of hard work has been done by communities across Brent to get this case to court.

“We would rather not have gone down this road, but the council has shown such �disregard and disdain for what communities have said they want that we had no �option but to pursue our �campaign through legal means.

“We all hope that the outcome is a fair and positive one for communities, not only for Brent but throughout England.”

More fundraising will take place at a talk with author Philip Pullman and Willesden novelist Maggie Gee on July 20 at Queens Park Community School hall, in Aylestone Avenue, Queens Park.

All proceeds will go to the Brent SOS Library Fund.

For more information visit www.brentsoslibraries.org.uk/sos