THE frugal lifestyle and Civil Service pension of a Ledbury woman have helped to create a substantial windfall for Newnham College, Cambridge.

Lucia Maria Windsor, who lived in Pound Close, Ledbury, died in February this year, leaving her entire estate, valued at £1.7 million, to the college she attended between 1939 and 1942.

An extremely reserved, very private woman, Lucia Windsor never married and, when she died at St Michael's Hospice, on February 28, she had no family beside her.

It is left to those among whom she lived, and with whom she shared interests, to paint a picture of the woman they knew.

Born on August 19, 1919, Miss Windsor was the only daughter of elderly parents, her father a cotton merchant, Thomas Windsor, her mother a schoolmistress, Lucy.

In the last weeks of her life, Miss Windsor's neighbour Brenda Baker learned a litttle more about her early years.

"She was a very private person but talking took her mind off her illness and I did learn a little more about her," said Mrs Baker.

Miss Windsor, who never married, was taught at home by her mother and at two schools in Wales before attending Malvern Girls' College for a year prior to going up to Cambridge.

After leaving Newnham, she joined the WRAF where, as she revealed to Brenda Baker, she was employed as a section officer interpreting reconnaissance photographs.

She attended Newnham College in the days before women were awarded degrees and was thrilled to go to Cambridte in 1998, one of 900 women invited to celebrate 50 years of women's degrees.

"It was the only 'fun' thing she did in the time I knew her," said Mrs Baker.

Another of her acquaintances, Peter Garnett, of Ledbury Naturalists' Trust, does, however, recall her revealing in a throwaway remark that she had visited Tenerife while at university.

Fun may not have been at the top of Lucia Windsor's agenda, but she led an extremely busy life - as a voluntary fund-raiser with the Red Cross and treasurer for the local and area WI markets. She was also a committed volunteer for the Ledbury Naturalists' Field Club, where she worked alongside Dr Michael Harper.

"She was not quite like anyone else," he said. She was an extraordinary lady, very good on the weather. She always knew where the next depression was coming from."

Strict vegetarian

Miss Windsor was a strict vegetarian with a garden that eschewed the prettiness of flowers for the practicality of fruit and vegetables.

"There were usually onions drying in the garage," Sheila Luard, one of several neighbours who provided support to Miss Windsor when she fell ill, recalls.

"She was almost self-sufficient. I don't think she spent a penny on the house or herself."

Miss Windsor was no fan of hospital food but was 'enchanted' by meals at St Michael's Hospice.

She vehemently refused help from social services and complained on the way to the hospice that the driver was going too fast. Friends were relieved when, on arrival at St Michael's, she put her head on the pillow and remarked: "This is bliss."

Those who knew her, whether as neighbours or colleagues in the many voluntary organisations she helped, are united in their summing up of a woman they spent time with but would not claim to know well - that she was a remarkable woman, fiercely independent and unlike anyone they'd met.

A regular churchgoer and server, Miss Windsor always attended the 8am service at St Michael and All Angels because it was the only one to use the Book of Common Prayer.

Although she was a practising Christian, she was very firm about not wanting a funeral or memorial service.

"It was a little disconcerting that there was to be no service of any sort," says Brenda Baker. "But she had very firm beliefs and it was reassuring that I had had a conversation with her quite recently in which she confirmed that this was what she wanted."

In Cambridge, Lucia's bequest was totally unexpected: "The legacy took us by surprise," said Professor Onora O'Neill, principal of Newnham College.

"She never spoke about it, and there are no conditions attached to its use.

"As we receive no direct public money, it will go into an unrestricted endowment and used to fund all we do for students," added the Professor,

"Lucia's name will be commemorated on a building at the college but the legacy will not go towards building costs - it will be spent across the generations to come."