Ava Gillies, a 26-year-old film and TV make-up artist, died after a two-vehicle collision on the A170 between Wrelton and Pickering at about 01:30 BST on 29 July. North Yorkshire Police said a white Volkswagen Polo driven by Gillies and a black Audi A4 were travelling in opposite directions when they collided, and she was pronounced dead at the scene.
The crash left five people in the Audi in hospital, but their injuries were not believed to be life-threatening. That detail sits uneasily beside the loss of Gillies, whose work in hair and make-up for film and TV had already taken her from training into a career her family and former college described with unmistakable pride.
Her family said it was a privilege to have raised and loved her, and remembered her for her wit, charm, beauty, feisty confidence and talent. They said that in almost 27 years with them she packed in study, travel and work, and that they were proud she had become a BAFTA Connect member. They also said her opportunities had taken her from talented artist to new designer, while Delamar Academy in London said it was broken-hearted by news of her death and described her as an exceptionally gifted artist who had built her career after graduating.
Gillies trained at Delamar Academy in 2018 after studying at York College, a route that points to how quickly she had turned study into professional work. Police are still looking into exactly how the collision happened, and have asked for witnesses or anyone with relevant dashcam footage to come forward. For now, that is the unanswered part of the story: not who Gillies was, but what brought two vehicles together on that stretch of road in the early hours of 29 July.
