On 24th February 2026, confreres gathered together in Maryvale Nursing Home to celebrate 65 years of Missionary Oath of Br Trevor Robinson. The celebration should have been on the 14th February but the main celebrant of the Mass could not get over from Ireland on that date.
It was important that Fr Diarmuid Sheehan MAfr should be present to celebrate with Br Trevor because they had been friends in Ghana for very many years and had accompanied Br Trevor to Buckingham Palace where Trevor received the MBE from Her Majesty Queen Elisabeth.
Trevor spent many years in Upper West Ghana in the Diocese of Wa running the diocesan garage together with several other brothers (almost all of whom have already passed on to their eternal reward).
There came a time however, when the Diocese no longer really needed a specific garage of its own and Trevor was transferred to the Archdiocese of Tamale in Northern Region of Ghana. There also, there was no real need for a specifically diocesan garage, but at the suggestion of Fr Diarmuid, Trevor began to build wheelchairs for people with various physical disabilities. Most of these people had been afflicted by polio as children and spent their days sitting on the ground or else dragging themselves around in the dust. Trevor began to produce wheelchairs which could be propelled by had so that not only could the wheelchair users get about, but they were no longer dependant on other people because they could control and propel the chair by hand. It was a very concrete way of restoring people’s human dignity. In line with this concern for human dignity, Trevor asked for a contribution from the recipient or their family towards the cost of the wheelchair. It was rarely, if ever sufficient to cover the cost, but it was a participation according to the teams of the recipient.
The wheelchair business took off and soon Trevor could take on local apprentices who learned to construct the wheelchairs and would be able to continue the work once Trevor retired.
As time went onTrevor sent one of the apprentices to Accra to learn how to make prosthetic limbs to further help those wheelchair users who could profit from artificial arms or legs.
In his “spare time”, when he wasn’t supervising the construction of the wheelchairs or applying for donations from abroad to make up for the shortfall in the costs, Trevor was experimenting in building simple solar ovens which would lessen the need for wood or gas when cooking.
Trevor was/is a very talented man and produced some beautiful ironwork for chapel as well as the more practical benches and tables for schools.
It was for all of these things that he was awarded the MBE.
However after a traffic accident on the way to his workshop, where he went every morning like clockwork after Mass and a quick breakfast, he had to come back to the UK and for the last 4 years has been well looked after in Maryvale Nursing Home, a short bus ride from our community in Little Ealing Lane, Northfields.
In the home he joined Br Patrick O’Reilly who has been cared for there for several years. Br Patrick managed to join us for all the celebration.
For the celebration the confreres in Little Ealing Lane turned up en masse, together with the Provincial Delegate, Fr Hugh Seenan and a representative of the community in Rutherglen, Fr Donald MacLeod. We celebrated Mass in the beautiful chapel of the nursing home together with some of the staff and Trevor managed to get to the lectern to read the first reading and the psalm. After Fr Diarmuid’s sermon, Trevor renewed his Missionary Oath accompanied by all his confreres present.
Finally we all went along to the Day room where the staff had prepared tea/coffee sandwiches and a beautiful cake. It was a fitting recognition for a man who has devoted his life to spreading the Gospel in Africa, not by preaching, but by turning up every day and working in a practical way for the dignity of Christians, Muslims, people of Traditional or no religion. Br Trevor’s work continues in Tamale under the supervision of Br Clenerius Chimpali MAfr, a Zambian brother.