Tributes to 'selfless, loving and caring' 19-year-old killed in A53 crash
Tributes have been paid to a "selfless, loving and caring" 19-year-old woman who was killed in a crash in Shropshire.
Charlotte Hope, from Shawbury, died after a two-car collision on the A53 at Astley, near Shrewsbury, on Saturday afternoon.
Her 54-year-old mother Helen, who was also seriously injured in the crash, remains in hospital.
Charlotte, a former Shawbury St Mary's Primary and Thomas Adams pupil, was in the second year of her training to become a primary school teacher at Edge Hill University.
Charlotte's father, RAF Wing Commander Neil Hope, 57, said the family had been left with a "massive hole in our world".
He said: "She was just a wonderful human being who had achieved so much in such a short life.
"She was caring, compassionate, she loved school, she loved university. She was training in her second year at Edge Hill to be a primary school teacher. She was about to go on her first school placement, which had been delayed by Covid. She was going to a school in Formby and she was so excited about it."
Wg Cdr Hope said that Charlotte's ambition had always been to be a primary school teacher, and that she had wanted to complete her training and go to work in Kenya, where she would also be able to continue her charitable voluntary work.
She had visited the country several times as part of Taking Football to Africa and Beyond appeal set up by her father and run through the RAF Football Association and RAF Shawbury.
Charlotte had also visited Kenya to volunteer at the charity Restart, which helps rescue children from the streets in the country.
Her aim had been to work as a teacher in the country and continue to volunteer with Restart.
Taking Football to Africa and Beyond has provided more than 305,000 football shirts and items of football equipment for youngsters and adults in Africa and across the world since it was set up in 2006.
Wg Cdr Hope said Charlotte had "helped massively with the charitable appeal from when she was a tiny girl", regularly sorting and boxing up the thousands of items to be shipped out to their new home.
He said: "We did a delivery trip this February, just a couple of months ago where Charlotte went back to Restart to meet the children again.
"Her intent was to get her degree then go and work in Kenya as a primary school teacher so she could volunteer at Restart.
"She just cared for others to the point where at times it frustrated me. She would put people before herself, it was just the way she was. She was a wonderful human being and we just miss her dearly, it is just a massive hole in our world."
He added: "All she wanted to do was be a primary school teacher. That is all she ever wanted to do and be in Kenya so she could continue to volunteer.
"She was everything you would want from a daughter."
Charlotte, who has two step-brothers Chris, 34, and Seb, 30, had also volunteered at the League of Friends to Royal Shrewsbury Hospital's shop during the Covid pandemic – when some of its regular volunteers were unable to.
Wg Cdr Hope said: "That is just the sort of thing she did, she was always offering to help."
She was well known at the Elephant & Castle in Shawbury where she had also worked with Wg Cdr Hope saying the landlord, Alan Houlihan would refer to her as his "pub daughter".
A keen fan of Newcastle United, like her father, Charlotte had served as a voluntary member of Shropshire Football Association's Youth Council for three years prior to university.
The night before she died Charlotte had watched Newcastle beat Wolves with her father.
He said: "She loved socialising with her friends, she loved music, reading, cats, she loved cats. She has a cat called Mogwai, named after the Gremlins film
"She just had time for anyone that needed it."
West Mercia Police is investigating the crash, which happened at around 4.15pm and officers are continuing to appeal for witnesses or anyone with dash-cam footage to come forward.
Charlotte was in a Volkswagen Polo with her mother travelling on the A53 towards Tern Hill when the car was involved in a collision with a white BMW M140i coming in the opposite direction at Astley.
A 33-year-old man was arrested in connection with the crash on suspicion of causing death by dangerous but has since been released on bail.
