Thousands of young lives could be saved thanks to donations made after a teenager’s death.

Hildenborough’s Lara Calthrop, 19, was killed when she was hit by a train near the village's railway station on December 29.

The tragedy has inspired hundreds of people to donate to a fundraising page, which has reached more than £10,500.

All of the money will go to Papyrus, a charity providing support for young suicidal people.

Fundraising officer Ottilie Scanlon said: “It’s hard to put in to words how much this money could help us.

“Our thoughts are with Lara’s family, what they have done is incredible and we’re very, very grateful.”

In a statement, Miss Calthrop’s family described the admin assistant as “always smiling and adored”.

They added: “We do hope to raise funds for Papyrus in the hope that we can help at least another family from going through our pain and hope that in that respect, Lara’s death has not been meaningless.”

"This donation is enough to keep our hopeline running for two weeks, which is incredible" - Ottilie Scanlon

Every £5 raised for the charity helps cover the cost of a call, text or email to its “hopeline”, meaning the current total has the potential to help more than 2,400 young people.

The money could also go toward the £165 cost of training new members of call staff.

Miss Scanlan added: “Our hopeline team all have a background in mental health.

“We’re there to listen, but we’re also there to intervene if we need to.

“If we need to call the emergency services whilst on the phone, we can do so with the caller’s permission.

“As we’re a short term service, we can also signpost callers to access long term services suitable for them.

“This donation is enough to keep our hopeline running for two weeks, which is incredible.”

As well as running its hopeline, the charity visits communities offering awareness courses and can run Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training, to train the public in spotting and preventing someone from trying to take their own life.

The accredited course costs £5,000 to train 30 people, meaning dozens of people could become lifesavers with the help of the money raised by Miss Calthrop’s family, friends and former teachers.

Visit the JustGiving page here.