Dame Vera Lynn is fighting to prevent a school named after her from closing.

Dame Vera says it would be a "crime" if the school for children with cerebral palsy has to close its doors next March.

At her home in Ditchling, near Brighton, she said: "It is such a wonderful place and we are doing all we can to keep it open."

The charity Scope, formerly the Spastics Society, says the Dame Vera Lynn School for Parents at Five Oaks, near Billingshurst, may have to shut because it can no longer afford the £250,000 a year running costs.

The school caters for 100 children up to the age of five with cerebral palsy and trains their parents in the Hungarian-developed Conductive Education system which helps children to walk without aids.

Dame Vera is working with parents and governors to try to find new finance. She said today: "It really would be a crime if it had to close.

"I am going to write to a few people I know who have a bit of money and see if they can assist us."

Dame Vera said: "What annoys me is we don't get any help from any of the authorities when there are a lot of ordinary playgroups which do receive funds."

Dame Vera was one of the founders nearly 50 years ago of the Stars Organisation for Spastics.