Legacy buys sheep memorial

Josephine Boraston used to keep her own sheep

A north Wales widow who left more than £2m to charity is to get a unique memorial - a flock of sheep.

Animal-lover Josephine Lavinia Boraston bequeathed most of her fortune to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds - the biggest single donation the bird charity has ever received.

The sheep will graze at the RSPB's Minsmere reserve

The charity have bought a new wildlife reserve with the cash and wanted to mark her generosity with a fitting tribute.

RSPB officials revealed on Wednesday that they had chosen a flock of rare sheep as a memorial to mother-of-one Mrs Boraston who died aged 84.

The 30 Manx Loghtan sheep will be used to keep the grass down at the RSPB's Minsmere reserve in Suffolk.

Reserve manager Andy Needle said: "The flock of sheep will be a fitting memorial to Mrs Boraston.

Heathland

"She had a small flock of Manx Loghtan sheep when she was alive - we thought this would be a good way of remembering her.

"They are ideally suited to the healthland on the reserve and they will thrive on the vegetation."

Mrs Boraston made her fortune from two exclusive women's clothes shops in Leamington Spa in the Midlands.

She retired in 1980 to a modest house in the village of Brynsiencyn, Anglesey, where she was regarded as an eccentric.

Her neighbours were shocked when they discovered she had left an estate worth £2,288,191 when she died three years ago.

Her daughter Victoria received nothing. The will stated: "I do not wish her to inherit any part of my estate and any claim she may make against my estate shall be resisted by my executors."

Mrs Boraston left £500 each to the Boston Terrier Club and the International League for the Protection of Horses - the rest went to the RSPB.

"She came to us in 1994 and kept in touch until she died," an RSPB spokesman said.

"We have used her bequest to buy a nature reserve in Cumbria and marked the donation by buying a flock of sheep."