Support is mounting for a campaign to save a crumbling school chapel that houses memorial stones to students killed in the Second World War.

More than 80 former pupils of King's Mead School, in Seaford, have backed efforts to preserve the 17th Century chapel, which has been condemned as a health hazard.

The chapel, formerly a barn, was rebuilt by staff and pupils in the school's grounds in 1926.

In the late Sixties, the school was redeveloped into St Mary's Nursing Home, which now faces closure due to its inability to meet Government care home standards by April next year.

Inspectors said the chapel was too dilapidated to repair, leaving it threatened with demolition.

But former pupils are determined to preserve it because of the stones, which are engraved with the names of the former students who died.

The campaign has won the support of Lib Dem MP Norman Baker, whose Lewes constituency includes Seaford.

He is pushing for the chapel to become a listed property.

He said: "St Mary's Chapel is an important historical chapel in its own right.

"It would be a tremendous loss if it was demolished and a lack of respect to those who died to protect our freedom."