A spinster has left £100,000 in her will to the town she loved.

Mary Shaw left almost £1 million, much of it to charities.

But her will also specified £100,000 should go to Worthing Borough Council in memory of her brother John, who died in 1984.

She said she wanted the money to be used for a project which the council could not otherwise fund from its budget.

John Underwood, a solicitor from Miller Parris in Worthing who is dealing with Miss Shaw's will, said: "Her brother worked in the rates department of the council all his life and his work there was only interrupted by war duties.

"They both loved Worthing and this is their thank you to the town. I suspect she amassed the money because she was the last survivor of what was one of the old established big families of the town.

Cliff Harrison, head of the council's technical services, said: "We are looking at all the items on the capital reserve list, which has about 80 projects on it.

"The money will be used for building works or investment in IT, on something we would like to do if we had money available.

"The letter from Miss Shaw's solicitors came out of the blue but obviously it is most welcome and we will use it wisely to benefit the whole community."

Miss Shaw, who died on May 9 2001, left £902,671 net.

Neighbours of her modest terraced house in the town had no idea she was so wealthy.

Her will included bequests to several churches and charities, including Chailey Heritage School near Lewes, the Raystede Centre for Animal Welfare at Ringmer, and St Barnabas' Hospice in Columbia Drive, Worthing.

Morgan Williams, general manager of the Raystede Centre, said: "We have no records of Miss Shaw on our database. But we often have people leaving us money who enjoyed visiting the centre."

Mark Cornwell, bursar of Chailey Heritage School, had also not heard of Miss Shaw but said the school was often left legacies by people unconnected to it.

He added: "We have a whole list of projects we can use it for.

"Depending on the size of the legacy, we will use it for building projects or equipment. We depend on legacies and are very grateful."