A WOMAN has left her £1million fortune to the Pilgrims Hospice in Canterbury – one of the biggest ever single bequests to the charity.

The legacy has come from Winifred Batcheller-Poxon who lived in the city centre and died aged 90 earlier this year.

Both she and her late husband, Dick, expressed a wish for many years that the hospice should benefit from their estate.

Their nephew Max Dale said: "Neither of them had personal experience of the hospice, they just thought it was doing a wonderful job."

Mr Batcheller-Poxon founded Kent Estate Agencies and ran the business until he was in his eighties before retiring. He died last year aged 94.

Mrs Batcheller-Poxon died in May and her will has just been published.

Chief executive of the Pilgrims Hospices East Kent, Steve Auty, said: "We are exceedingly grateful to Mrs Batcheller-Poxon for her most generous donation.

"As with most charities, we rely heavily on legacy income, without which we could not survive."

* See the Kentish Gazette (October 26) for the full story.