Tributes to Dorothy Jackson

She was well known locally as the founder of Cat Call, a rescue charity in Hastings and Rother, covering the area from Bexhill to Battle and Rye.

Her daughter Julie Child, who lives in St Leonards, said: "Cat Call is completely local and independent but we are a registered charity. If nobody else can help, we do. It wasn't called Cat Call when she first started it as a lost and found cat register, which is still running. We gradually took in more and more cats and we are still doing it - we carried on.

"Mum was absolutely devoted. She helped so many people - I think so many must remember her here in Bexhill. She found lost cats which we would try to reunite with their owners, but if not we looked after them and re-homed them.

"What we do a lot of is taking in older cats - other sanctuaries don't want them because they can't re-home them. We collected one this week from a lady who is going into sheltered accommodation.

"Our idea is to have a retirement home for elderly cats...we would still do the re-homing but basically the house would be for the cats."

Dorothy was born in London but moved south in 1965 when she worked with the civil service.

Julie said: "We came down here with no cats, our last one having died, and mum said - no more cats.

"Within two months we had two that someone had threatened to shoot. So we started up again, and we never stopped."