A MALVERN woman who had her cat buried in a hand-made, oak veneer, fully-lined coffin, has left the bulk of her £780,000 estate to animal charities.

Margaret Joan Large passed away on August 21 last year, aged 77. The animal-loving recluse, who had buried her beloved cat Felix 18 months earlier, left almost all of her estate to the charities, including £75,000 to The League Against Cruel Sports.

"She was a sweet lady, a bit eccentric but very sweet," said Lorraine Etheridge, of F W Spilsbury funeral directors, of Malvern, who made the coffin for Miss Large's cat.

"We held the funeral service for Felix in Miss Large's garden. It was all done properly and was very nice. It meant so much to her that it had to be taken seriously.

"She was almost a recluse but she trusted funeral director David Spilsbury with her beloved cat," she said.

Miss Large, of King Edward's Road, Malvern Wells, who was a nature lover and member of the Malvern Field Club, never married and did not have children.

Her funeral took place at All Saints Church, Wyche, and she was buried at Elm Road Western Cemetery, Crewe, near Wrexham.

The British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection, the International Fund for Animal Welfare, the PDSA, the RSPCA, the RSPB, and the World Society for the Protection of Animals all received a minimum of £10,000 each.

Miss Large also left money to Care for the Wild, The Northern Counties Horse and Smaller Animals Protection Society, Bleakholt Animal Sanctuary, in Lancashire, Bransby Home of Rest for Horses, in Lincoln, and the Home of Rest for Horses, in Buckinghamshire, and the Donkey Sanctuary and the International Donkey Protection Trust, both in Sidmouth, Devon.

She also left money to Oxfam, the Bible Society and various missions.