BLACK Country actress and comedienne Josie Lawrence helped boost Sunfield School’s new classrooms appeal by raking in £25,000 on TV quiz show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

Old Hill born Josie shared the hot seat with fellow Midlander Meera Syal on January 31 and between them they raised £50,000 for Sunfield and Meera’s chosen charity (Newham Asian Women’s Project) before having to bow out of the competition hosted by Chris Tarrant.

After the show - Josie, who has been a patron of Sunfield for 11 years, said answering the questions in the studio proved a lot trickier than from the comfort of her armchair at home.

She said: “Meera and I had a lot of fun doing the show and I was delighted to have been able to raise such a substantial sum of money for Sunfield, particularly now, as they are in the process of building and equipping a brand new, state-of-the-art school.

“The children at Sunfield have a range of profound learning difficulties, so they really need these new classrooms which have been specially designed with their very specific needs in mind.

“The money Meera and I raised will equip two of the new classrooms which will help these children in so many ways.”

On top of the £3.5m building costs, Sunfield is trying to raise a further £250,000 to fit out and furnish the new classrooms.

The school’s appeals director Ian Jones, said: “Josie has been a tremendous support to us here at Sunfield over the years, for which we are always very grateful.

“This significant amount of money from her appearance on Who Wants to be a Millionaire? is a real boost to our funds and means we are now well on our way to giving our children the tailor-made learning environment they need.”