Absolutely Fabulous actress Joanna Lumley returned to the Sussex town where she went to school to open a newly-built church centre.

In the Fifties, the star was a pupil at St Mary's Covent School in The Ridge, St Leonards, which was run by the Community of the Holy Family.

The school was later demolished but money raised from the sale of the land and buildings helped fund a Chichester diocesan study and conference centre on the ex-Christ Church School site in London Road.

The ex-Avengers star - famed for playing the incorrigible Patsy Stone in Absolutely Fabulous - was reunited with old schoolfriends as she opened the centre on Saturday.

She reminisced about her six years at the convent, saying how fondly she remembered her time there before rising to become one of Britain's best-loved actresses.

The Reverend David Guest said: "She said she kept up her links with the sisters because she cared very much and she said what a great honour it was to be opening the centre."

Afterwards, the Bishop of Chichester, the Right Reverend John Hind, dedicated the building and blessed every room.

The centre, called the Magnet after the Mother Agnes Trust, has a meeting room, a small chapel and a theological library.

It also houses the office of the police priority area, one of ten new initiatives set up in needy parts of the country to help cut crime.

Bishop John said: "This is an exciting project for us in the diocese, not least because of the range of work that can be undertaken here and the many partnership possibilities."