Rural churches already struggling financially have been hit by rising energy costs, a church treasurer says.

Richard Jones said Holy Trinity Church in the Shropshire village of Yockleton, was among those under pressure.

He said ultimately churches were “in danger” of closing if they could not afford to meet their costs.

Hundreds of churches receive hardship grants and some applied for funding through schemes to become warm hubs.

Holy Trinity is one of the northern most parishes within the Diocese of Hereford and is close to the Welsh border.

It partly raises funds via donations through the Parish Giving Scheme, and also holds fundraising events towards running costs.

This weekend sees its annual snowdrop event, where visitors can have tea and cake while enjoying the “lovely show” of flowers, said Mr Jones, the parochial church council (PCC) treasurer.

He said it was a difficult time for such premises.

“If we can’t pay our way then we can’t pay for our priest and the church would close, ultimately,” he said, adding they hoped that would never happen.

But there were a lot of rural churches dotted around and all seemed to be facing pressures, he said.

“Rural churches are struggling financially anyway, the escalating cost of energy is a serious concern,” he said.

When Andy Smith moved from the Lincolnshire countryside where he grew up, to Rotherham, he immediately longed for a return to his rural life.

“For the first 24 years of my life I lived in a village, and living in a town is a big difference,” said 37-year-old Smith, who was born in Saxilby. “It made me miss village life. So I thought, how can I combine the missing of village life with my passion for geography?”

His answer was to launch a lifelong quest to visit all 10,449 civil parishes in England, documenting his travels via a YouTube channel under a new name – The Village Idiot.

“I’ve done 332 so far, but my enthusiasm is not going to waver, I’ll say that much,” said Smith. “It’s probably going to take me the best part of 25 to 30 years to do it. But as long as I’ve got that enthusiasm, I’m going to just keep pushing and pushing.”

Smith, who also works as a Hermes delivery driver, usually spends three days a week travelling to different parishes, and puts out a new video about a parish every day.