Barbara Bell, a well-known figure in the lesbian and gay community, who openly wrote about her life in a ground-breaking book, Just Take Your Frock, has died aged 90.

There was a large gathering at her funeral at the Unitarian Church, New Road, Brighton, last Thursday.

Barbara was born and brought up in Blackburn, Lancashire, and worked as a policewoman in London during the Second World War.

She came to live in Brighton and Hove in the mid-Fifties working as a teacher and enjoying a discreet suburban lifestyle in Hangleton with a female lecturer from her teacher training college.

After a three-year spell teaching in Nigeria, she moved back to Brighton and began teaching children with learning difficulties at Downs View School, Woodingdean.

She joined the Minorities Research Group, the first national organisation for lesbians and gays, becoming its South Coast representative.

She and her partner would drive round Sussex in their smart sports car, visiting isolated lesbians, encouraging them to make contact with others.

Barbara later contracted breast cancer and had a mastectomy.

She was appalled by the ugly underwear issued by the NHS to women in her condition and mounted a one-woman campaign to have better bras made available to women who have had to have breasts removed.

She successfully argued this would help raise confidence and speed recovery.

After retiring from Downs View School, Barbara became a teacher and carer to a severely disabled child who she nursed until his early death.

When Aids arrived in Brighton, she became a supportive friend or Aids buddy to people with the disease, although she stopped because she could not bear another funeral.

Barbara led an active social life until her death and in her mid-80s she was often seen striding over the South Downs as a member of the Women's Walking Group.