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.

Having lost its post office, shop, petrol station and garage, the beautifully remote Northumberland village of Ridsdale has a paid a price for the isolation that comes with such sweeping views. But now the community is following a national trend and banding together to save the one thing it has left: the pub.

Determined to prevent the Gun Inn from closing after its owners decided to sell up, Ridsdale locals have formed a group with the goal of achieving a community buyout and offering people the chance to become shareholders in the venture.

The problem is that the villagers need to raise a large sum of money by a planning deadline of 22 December – and there aren’t very many of them. 

“Momentum is building, but we’re only 80 houses here and we need to raise £200,000 very quickly,” said John Bassett, 74, who chairs the group and has lived in Ridsdale for decades.

So far the village is a long way short of this target, but if it is hopeful of its chances, it is perhaps because the phenomenon of the community pub is growing. 

There are about 95 across the UK, according to the Plunkett Foundation, which specialises in helping community businesses, and that number grew by 13% in 2018. The foundation says there is currently a 100% survival rate for the community pubs it knows of, with not a single one ceasing to trade – in stark contrast to the high numbers of conventional pubs closing every year.

Shares in the Gun are being offered at £1 each, with a minimum purchase of £500. The project was given a welcome boost when the crime writer Ann Cleeves retweeted the campaign and the locals suddenly received donations from as far afield as New York, Kansas and Michigan.

During the collaborative project between April and July, Sayer helped Essex county council create a health and care “one-stop shop” at a community venue in her Saffron Walden neighbourhood. This encourages learning disabled or autistic people to get help and information without visiting council offices. At a single session, 20 people got advice from professionals including social workers, voluntary sector care providers and employment advisers. The sessions now run monthly.

Sayer also helped launch an “easy read” (accessible) magazine featuring local events. “It’s a great way for people with autism and learning disabilities to find out about local news, events and jobs and services that might help them,” she says. The magazine was designed and printed by learning disabled people and there are plans for a regular publication produced by a permanent editorial team. These projects aim to boost support, opportunities and community connections.

The project in Essex was part of the 100 day challenge, a programme run by innovation charity Nesta that looks for alternatives to traditional top-down health and care support. Launched five years ago, the challenge encourages frontline health and care professionals to imagine new ideas, influenced by people who use services. Essex county council is the latest to follow the method and features in a new Nesta report.

The work involved communities in Saffron Walden, Canvey Island and Colchester. Among the new projects influenced by learning disabled people in Colchester, nine young people with learning disabilities ran book club sessions that are now being rolled out to three schools and a leisure centre. The launch of an inclusive cricket match in Canvey Island – an idea from a learning disabled sports fan – sparked weekly events at a leisure centre and plans for inclusive matches at a cricket club.

Jessica genuinely stumbled across this article at lunchtime. We have been doing lots of work with Village SOS to train mentors to support communities taking more responsibility for doing things in their own neighbourhood. I think this is a brilliant and inspirational way to get locals to work together through the medium of some warm comfort food. The story tells us:

Colchester is a relatively affluent UK town. So why is it borrowing a micro-funding idea from a US city that went bankrupt?

Soup is rarely thought of as particularly inspiring. But that’s the case for a fledgling few in the small Essex town – Detroit Soup to be precise.

It’s a socially-focused crowdfunding project, in which members of the community pay a small entry fee in return for a bowl of soup – and the right to vote on one of a few local causes pitching to win the prize fund, which is the sum of the entry money.

At this Colchester event, the voters decided to buy a new kiln for a daycare centre for disabled people using the £191.52 prize fund (the combined £5 entry fees plus someone’s £1.52 donation) from the second ever Colchestersoup