BOARDS have gone up and locks have been changed as the formal eviction date for the Gayle Mill Trust (GMT) has been met.

The GMT volunteers have now moved all their tools and equipment out of the historic Wensleydale mill, marking the end of an era for the group who dedicated years of hard work keeping the popular attraction vibrant.

The building is now fully under the control of its owners, the North of England Civic Trust (NECT), who are yet to provide specific details of what the immediate future holds for the mill.

And despite the eviction, the GMT's chairman William Lambert said the volunteers are "absolutely keeping the door open" to playing some part in the mill's future.

He said: "The GMT is going to carry on until somebody publicly says the mill is never going to open again or we are never going to have the chance to come back again.

"If that happens then we may have to make the choice about whether there are any other charities we might be able to do something for."

Mr Lambert says Trust members are continuing to make traditional woodwork items and there may be scope to sell them online.

He said: "We have put our machinery in some farm buildings and the volunteers are continuing making things, but really it is quite sad because we don't know what we are making it for - whether for the mill in the future or if worse comes to worst give it to some other charity.

"We don't want to stop doing it because there is a group of retired gentlemen and other people who look forward to meeting up and making things."

Mr Lambert said that moving all the Trust's equipment from the mill felt like a job with a deadline to meet, but he admitted that removing the last load was tinged with sadness.

"We had an awful lot of materials and tools that we had to move from the mill, we had a deadline and we got on with it, but bringing the very last load out suddenly felt very different," he said.

"It was like the end of a period of our lives and we don't know what will come next - that is the worst thing, the not knowing."

In a statement released in January, the NECT said that the mill will close until Easter 2019 to enable a planned phase of repair works, but the lack of detail over the schedule and funding has led to concerns within the community that the mill may be mothballed for a longer period of time.

The Hawes and High Abbotside Parish Council has also reported the NECT to the Charity Commission over its handling of GMT's eviction.

The Darlington and Stockton Times has repeatedly requested a statement on the matter from the NECT and understood that the charity would not comment publicly until after the GMT vacated the mill.

Although that has now happened, the NECT did not respond to further requests this week for clarity over the mill's immediate future.