Bound to a wheelchair... The auto painter who refuses to put down a spray gun

(Kaieteur News) – Two tragic accidents changed his life, one of them leaving him in a wheelchair but 75-year-old Neville Richards of A-Field Sophia, Greater Georgetown refuses to stop spray painting and restoring cars, a job which he has been doing for decades.

The highlight of his career as an automotive paint technician was when he was called in to surprise Guyana’s former President, Linden Forbes Burnham by restoring his (Burnham’s) crashed Austin Princess, a car Burnham received as gift after becoming Prime Minister in 1964. That car now sits in the Walter Roth Museum in Georgetown.

Since then, Richards has had many highs and lows as a spray painter but none could compare with a tragic accident in 2019 that changed his life forever. Not only did it almost cost him his life and left him in a wheelchair but it almost took away his livelihood.