50 and out for Perthshire plasterer Alan Shand

Plasterer 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 and admits it was a decision he has never regretted.

“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,” he recalled.

“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, as well as jobs for the council and the Gannochy Trust,” added Alan, a keen footballer in his younger days and capped for Scotland Schoolboys against England.

“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.”

Family man 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.

“I always liked football in my younger days. I was on Forfar’s books as a schoolboy when I got my cap. It’s still in my dad’s loft,” said Alan.

“I was goalkeeper for local teams like Balbeggie, Scone Thistle, Bridge of Earn and Jeanfield Swifts. They called me ‘The Cat.’

“Nowadays I like my bowls, playing at the Scone Recreation Club. I’ll have a bit more time on my hands for that now.”

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 and 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.”