FEATURE ALAN SHAND
LONG SHIFT After 50 years of service at Scottish FMB member Allan Robertson and Son, plasterer Alan Shand is retiring END OF A
F or those of you who can remember, think back to 1974. What stands out? Was it the three-day week to conserve electricity? How about two general elections held just eight months apart? What about Scotland’s football team being knocked out in the first round of the World Cup, despite having won all of their pool games and conceding only one goal? For a young Alan Shand – a keen footballer who played goalkeeper for Scotland Schoolboys against England, earning him the nickname of ‘The Cat’ – the football result undoubtedly stung. More importantly, though, 1974 was the year Shand entered the construction workforce. The start of something great After leaving school – Perth Academy – he joined Scone-based building firm Allan Robertson and Son as a plasterer apprentice and never looked back. “I was living with my folks in Balbeggie at the time,” Shand recalls. “I was looking for a job and when I got the offer of an apprenticeship from Allan Senior I grabbed it. My first job was grouting a floor at the old children’s home at Catmoor in Scone. It was demolished years ago. There are flats there now.” Shand, who has since swapped his football boots for the bowls lawn at Scone Recreation Club, spent 50 years honing his trade at the same family-run business, only hanging up his tools this year. Perhaps even more notable than his loyal commitment to a single employer, Shand impressively missed just one week
(l-r) Allan S Robertson, Alan Shand and Allan F Robertson
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.” Having worked alongside three generations of the Robertson family – the business celebrated 100 years in 2022 – Shand has been a fundamental part of the company. Showing up week in, week out for so many decades, Shand took great pride in delivering his best work. Along the way, he worked with interesting people, including Fred MacAulay, who went on to become a comedian. If anyone has ever earned the right to a long bout of relaxation, it is certainly Shand. With more time on his hands – an unusual situation to find himself in – he is eager to relax with his wife Elinor and perfect his bowling technique.
of work in five decades, during which he was floored by the flu. He has worked on many projects during his time in the industry, ranging from Perth Prison and St Ninian’s Cathedral to council houses and castles – and even for the region’s respected charity, the Gannochy Trust. A messy but satisfying job “Plastering has always been a messy job, especially on ceilings,” Shand says. “Unlike so many jobs, it hasn’t really changed over all these years. The most difficult jobs tend to be old tenements in the city centre
(back l-r) Lynn Carter, Allan F Robertson, Joyce Robertson, Sarah Dow; (front l-r) Elinor Shand Alan Shand and Allan S Robertson
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