The National Churches Trust has been awarded a grant of £1.5 million by Historic England to fund urgent repairs to 31 historic local churches.

The funding comes from the Heritage Stimulus Fund, part of the Government's Culture Recovery Fund.

Churches in Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, Hertfordshire, Hampshire will all receive the funding.

Head of Communications and Public Affairs for The National Churches Trust, Eddie Tulasiewicz spoke to Premier and expressed his delight with the grant.

He said: "We're really pleased that the money's coming because churches are important heritage buildings.

"They're also very important for local communities as places of worship, and also places where things from food banks to nursery schools take place. 

"These churches were selected because they are the ones that were in desperate need."

"However there are a lot of churches in desperate need of repair.

"There's about 900 on the Historic England heritage at risk register."

Eddie talks about how the money will be spent; he said: "We got the money, quite suddenly and we have got a large number of churches on our books that we know need urgent repairs, and we were able to greenlight repairs to these churches. 

"Many urgent repairs will be to the roofs that mainly suffer from leaks or stonework that is letting in water and once water starts getting into a building, real damage can take place and it prevents the church frm doing what it needs to do normally. 

"There's some amazing historic buildings here in Cambridgeshire and in Kent also Leicestershire in Suffolk, some of them date back to the 13th century.

"If they don't have their roofs repaired it can cost an awful lot of money, then the church is at threat and possibly a threat of closure. 

"So the money coming in is going to help keep those churches going. But it's important to put this into perspective."