AN AMMANFORD guitarist who as played with some famous musicians in America and Europe, has been honoured by opera superstar Bryn Terfel.

Trevor Whymark has jammed with members of rock band Whitesnake and once supported The Animals live in Wales.

But now his talents and work in music therapy have been honoured with a prestigious award for those working in the social care sector.

Since swapping the clubs of Chicago and Hollywood’s Hard Rock Café for the nursing homes of Wales, 56-year-old Trevor has found his true calling, and received the ultimate accolade at the prestigious Wales Care Awards.

Surrounded by the very best in the industry at Cardiff’s City Hall, Trevor was among those handed the highest honours at a glittering prizegiving ceremony for the awards, run by Care Forum Wales and sponsored by Barclays Bank.

He collected The Bryn Terfel Foundation Award for Promoting the Arts in Social Care, for the way in which he has enhanced and improved the lives of those looked after by the Careinn group, bringing music therapy to the residents since 2013.

The event was hosted by popular TV presenter Lucy Owen.

Trevor said: “I am over the moon with this award. Any recognition is great but being a musician it means such a lot to me when it is to do with the arts.

“For me personally it couldn’t have been better. This award hopefully will highlight what we do and promote the way were doing things.”

Before joining Careinn, Trevor has worked freelance offering music therapy to many care homes as well offering business consultancy and running seminars on motivation, teamwork, communication and marketing.

These areas of expertise made him an obvious choice for the role of Project Manager across the 12 Careinn establishments catering for young adults with disabilities as well as older people with dementia or requiring nursing and personal support.

He now spends a lot of time creating bespoke packages for residents and working one-to-one with those who most need his direct interaction.

Trevor said: “What I’m looking for is continuous meaningful interaction, staff being totally involved and doing things with individuals all the time. Human contact is what it’s all about, and tapping in to those things that act as a trigger for each client.

“For example I have a resident I’m working with from Mauritius and there’s a certain type of island music that he loves. I’ve put together a package for him that I’ll work with him on that really means something to him and that’s the ethos of what we’re doing.”

Trevor’s ground-breaking work has led to him securing a grant to fund his projects and he is hoping to find volunteers, whether musicians or just people who like to sit and read a book or poem to someone, to help further develop his ideas.

He said: “This award will really help enforce what we’re doing and get that message across and the fact that it is really working.

“It’s so important that everyone should have some meaningful interaction every day. There should always be some time for some human contact that is not just task orientated and we’ve just got to be a little bit imaginative about how we do that.”

Despite a life of different roles and opportunities to travel the world with his music, Trevor’s current job is the one that he claims has become ‘an obsession’.

He said: “I really want to make a difference. All the other jobs I’ve had have been successful because I’ve worked hard at them but this is the first one, apart from playing music, that I have become so passionate about.

Mario Kreft, the Chair of Care Forum Wales, said there had been a record number of nominations and the standard was extremely high.

He added: “There are only winners here tonight so it is only fitting that the finalists will receive a gold, silver or bronze Wales Care Award.

“I trust that they will continue to inspire those around them as role models and encourage others to aspire to even greater heights in the months and years to come.

“This awards ceremony is our opportunity to pay tribute and to celebrate the talent and commitment that is improving the quality of life for thousands and thousands of people throughout Wales.

“We take our hats off to them.”