VOLUNTEERS are being sought to help restore and run one of North Yorkshire’s hidden gems so it can be opened up to the public.

Dating from the early 1800s, Raindale Mill was painstakingly moved brick-by-brick to York’s Castle Museum from its original home on the North Yorkshire Moors back in 1935.

It opened to the public as a working mill in 1966 and was a great success - but in recent decades the public have not been allowed access because of staffing and health and safety concerns.

However York Museums Trust now hopes to recruit an army of volunteers to help restore it and demonstrate how it would have worked to thousands of visitors.

Volunteers manager Fiona Burton said: "This is a fantastic building with an incredible history.

"It is still has the potential to be a fully functioning mill and we hope that, with a bit of love and care by staff and trained volunteers, we can get it open to the public this summer so they can experience the history of milling first hand."

Those volunteering will first get the chance to have hands-on experience with the tools and equipment associated with the mill, much of it hundreds of years old.

All of it will be catalogued, with some of it going on show in the mill for the public to see.

The aim is to have the building open for at least weekends during the summer holiday - and eventually to get the actual mill working properly so it can once again make flour.

Anyone interested should email Fiona on fiona.burton@ymt.org.uk or write to her at York Castle Museum, Eye of York, York, YO1 9RY.