A "gentle and kind-hearted" young father died in a crash on the A48. Matthew Woodward, of Barry, was fatally injured at around 4.25am on Friday in a collision involving his motorbike and a car. The driver of the car also died in the crash between Bonvilston and Cowbridge.
One of Matthew's closest friends Oscar Jenkins has paid tribute to the 33-year-old who is survived by three-year-old daughter Amelia and fiancée Lauren Goodman. Oscar, whose fundraiser to support the family has already seen £3,695 in donations, told WalesOnline that Matthew was riding his motorbike home following a lorry-driving shift when the collision happened. Matthew was using the bike because he had sold his car a couple of weeks earlier following a sharp rise in the family's mortgage payments, said Oscar.
Oscar, also 33, added: "Woody was the most gentle and kind-hearted person and that's not just me saying it as a good friend. He was very softly spoken and sensitive without a bad bone in his body. We'd known each other since the start of secondary school in Shrewsbury. He met Lauren at university in Swansea and she's got quite a big family in Barry so he moved down there and they had a child. But he was always the one who made that push to get together with our group of friends from Shrewsbury whenever possible."
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Four days before his death Matthew visited Oscar in Shrewsbury. "It felt like an absolute blessing because it had been a while since I'd seen him," said Oscar. "His fiancée had by pure chance arranged to have her eyebrows done in the area so he popped in to see us on Monday. It had been my birthday a couple of weeks before that and Woody hadn't been able to make it so he ordered a curry takeaway, brought four or five beers, and said: 'This is for missing your birthday.' We sat down and it was lovely.
"He was talking about the cost of living and how he was thinking of moving away from being a lorry driver and becoming a train driver. A week or two earlier he'd sold his BMW because the mortgage rates had gone up so much. Looking back it's so incredible that we had that opportunity to see him a final time."
Some of Oscar's favourite moments with Matthew came in charity soapbox races. Matthew, a former employee of the Rednal Karting track, loved motoring. He helped Oscar, whose aunt died of brain cancer, design a pink go-kart out of plumbing insulation to look like a brain and used it to fundraise for cancer research in a series of races including Penarth Downhill Derby.
"It was the most ridiculous-looking go-kart but Woody was such an incredible driver that he managed to steer this thing and beat all these local engineering firms. They couldn't believe it. The last two years he won the Penarth race both times. He was such a gentle soul but when he got on a racetrack it was like he had an ultra-competitive alter ego. Racing was his absolute love. We raised about £2,500 in total over five races across the country."
Oscar added that caring for family and friends was extremely important to Matthew. He gave the example of a kind gesture towards a friend who needed a car but was struggling for cash. "Woody transferred a number of thousands of pounds to make sure he got the car he wanted and said: 'Pay me back when you can.' He was very generous with his friends."
The GoFundMe campaign will go towards supporting Matthew's family and helping with funeral costs. You can donate here.
South Wales Police is appealing for information from anyone who may have witnessed the collision. A force spokesman said: "If you can help, please contact us and quote reference: 2300225017."
