I am deeply saddened by the passing of animal rights campaigner and friend Rena Collins.

Rena was a lady of great character, highly principled, with an unusually strong sense of right and wrong and with a big, big heart.

I came to know Rena through the campaign against live animal exports and through

The Argus. Although we had not met at the protests, Rena contacted me because I had spoken to the Prince of Wales when he visited Brighton, asking him to care about the animals as well as the flowers.

From then on, Rena and I became firm telephone friends because we both felt so passionately that animals should not be exploited and abused.

We also shared the view that God would not approve and Rena directed me to the many places in the Bible where this is demonstrated and, therefore, we both became vegans.

Rena and I also shared a love of poetry and she had the gift of penning wonderful and heart-rending verse. She would ring me to read me her latest piece, often about the beauty of nature, the crimes against creation or the West Pier, the herring gulls or Brighton itself. That Rena should have an anthology published was another dream we both shared.

Rena was one in a million - sometimes a fiery lady, other times loving and kind. Once aware of the abuse of animals, she dedicated her life to trying to stop it, largely neglecting herself.

Sadly, like many elderly people, her fear of hospitals and nursing homes meant she spent the last weeks of her life sitting in a chair determined not to leave her home.

Because of her disillusionment with the world and her ill health, Rena told me on several occasions she was ready to go, although she had many friends in Kemp Town and beyond.

Rena's passing will be our world's loss but I believe her work for animals will have fast-tracked her to heaven, where I hope she is now resting in peace.

-Elizabeth Taylor, High Salvington