THE COMMONERS Choir will bring to life the power of print through song at a Keighley concert.

The choir will perform at Keighley Library on April 8 at 1pm as part of a tour of areas where libraries have been threatened by council cutbacks.

The free performance at the North Street library will show how the invention of print and the creation of public libraries brought information and knowledge to the people.

The concert, entitled Literacy, Books And The Print Revolution, is part of the first tour by the choir, which also takes in Sheffield, Darlington, Carlisle and Doncaster.

The Commoners Choir was formed in 2015 by former member of the band Chumbawamba, Boff Whalley, who has also written several plays.

A spokesman said: “It is a 30 strong choir dedicated to singing about the world around us, its inequalities and injustices, of which it actively opposes. “Commoners Choir is also dedicated to reclaiming the fun of making a big noise together.”

The members perform specially-written songs about how the invention of print and the creation of public libraries democratised information and knowledge, centring around the history, culture and politics of literacy and print.

Each performance will be accompanied by an exhibition of printed posters celebrating the power of print.

At each event there will be a letterpress printer demonstrating the use of mechanical type. The printer will create site-specific souvenirs of each performance which will include a free CD of a Commoners Choir song written especially for the event.

The Commoners Choir have been described by critics as peculiar, memorable, feisty, celebratory, witty, angry and inclusive.

The free tour of Northern English Libraries was made possible by funding from Arts Council England.

Boff’s one-woman show, featuring Ella Harris in the acting role, told the story of Annie Wilde, a Lancashire suffragette, with songs and jokes peppering Annie’s story-telling.