A RETIRED secretary has left more than £500,000 to charities in the Scarborough area.

One of the biggest legacies is to the Scarborough lifeboat, which gets £120,000 in the will of widow Joan Gavigan, of Hungate Court, Hunmanby, near Scarborough, who died last October at the age of 79.

She has also left £250,000 to the York branch of the RSPCA, and £120,000 to the RNLI branch at Bridlington.

In addition, the lifeboat station at Filey gets £10,000 as does the Hunmanby Cancer Fund, while the Salvation Army at Filey receives £5,000, and All Saints Church, Hunmanby, £4,000. A further £1,000 goes to the National Canine Defence League.

Mrs Gavigan lived in the York area for several years where her late husband was a farm manager.