Comedian Harry Enfield, who shot to fame with his character Loadsamoney, has dug deep to help a Sussex school.

The Priory School in Lewes made a desperate appeal in The Argus to raise enough cash to make a bid to become a specialist arts college.

The school needed to find £50,000 in sponsorship and, with a week to go, was still £15,000 short.

But a late rally by local businesses and people, including Sussex-born Enfield, saw the school easily meet its target with £77,000 in the kitty.

Deputy head Siobhan Denning said: "It all came together in the last three days. It was quite amazing. We had two or three individuals donating money at the last moment. This means we can now submit a bid for arts college status to the Government."

If the application is successful, the school will gain an extra £500,000 over four years towards promoting arts and will build a new arts centre.