A Perthshire plasterer has hung up his tools after clocking-up 50 years with a local family business.
Alan Shand took up an apprenticeship with Scone-based building firm Allan Robertson and Son after leaving school in 1974.
It was a year of political turmoil, the three-day week and two general elections, with Harold Wison taking over from Ted Heath in 10 Downing Street.
Alan, 66, leapt at the chance to learn a trade after leaving Perth Academy. He says it was a decision he has never regretted.
He recalls: “I was living with my folks in Balbeggie at the time.
“I was looking for a job and when I got the offer of an apprenticeship from Allan senior I grabbed it.”
Perthshire plasterer worked on prisons to cathedrals
Alan said he’d loved every minute of a career that’s seen him tackle all sorts of jobs.
“I remember my first job was grouting a floor at the old children’s home at Catmoor in Scone. It was demolished years ago. There’s flats there now.
“Down the years I suppose I have worked on everything from Perth Prison and St Ninian’s Cathedral to council houses and castles.
“There have been a lot of jobs for the council and the Gannochy Trust.”
Alan was a keen footballer in his younger days and capped for Scotland Schoolboys against England.
He was once on Forfar’s books and played as goalkeeper for Balbeggie, Scone Thistle, Bridge of Earn and Jeanfield Swifts. He was nicknamed ‘the cat’.
Alan said, unlike most other professions, the work he does hasn’t really changed over the five decades he’s been mixing plaster.
He said: “It has always been a messy job, especially working on ceilings. Unlike so many jobs, it hasn’t really changed over all these years.
“The most difficult jobs tended to be old tenements in the city centre because the stairwells are curved, and you need to work off scaffolding.
“I have always enjoyed my work, whether it has been indoor or harling outside walls. One of my last jobs was pointing walls at Doo’cot for Gannochy.”
First time an employee reaches 50 years milestone
Alan, whose wife Elinor spent 32 years at Perth Leisure Pool before retiring, has worked for three generations of the Robertson family.
Work colleagues down the years included student labourers Fred MacAulay, the comedian, and John Low, who went on to become a rector at Aberfeldy High and Perth Grammar.
His favourite pastime has changed from football in his younger days to bowls for Scone Recreation Club.
Fourth generation boss Allan Robertson and his father, also Allan, made a presentation to the Shands during a farewell dinner at Scone restaurant Brown and Blacks.
“We have been fortunate to have had a number of long-serving employees in a business which celebrated our Centenary in 2022,” said Allan junior.
“But this is the first time anyone has celebrated 50 years with us. It is a remarkable record.
“Alan has been an exceptional tradesman. In all that time he only missed one week of work, when he was floored by the flu.
“We wish him a long and happy retirement.”
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