It's a Dog's Life

from S40 Local - 139 July 2023

A Walk In The Park

Palace Roofline celebrates 15 Years, we meet Beau... oh, and Shane as well!

Words: Paul Chapman Images: Cup & Saucer

Shane Calton’s Palace Roofline was established in 2008 and his vans are a regular site on our local roads and parked up as they install fascias soffits and any number of roof related services. We caught up for a quick chat as he celebrates 15 years in business.

Shane isn’t ‘hands on the tools’, his background is in sales. "I started off working in a pet shop on Chester Street, then went on to work at local company RB Allfree for nine years. I then worked as a setting out technician and then moved over into plant hire as a sales rep working to enable me to pay the bills and bring up a happy family.

"As a civil engineer, I attended Chesterfield College for five years and gained my ONC and HNC Building and Civil Engineering while working for RB Allfree Co Ltd, my ten years in plant hire included Banner, Champion Hire and A Plant.

"It was here that I decided to set up Palace Roofline. I’d always been sales focused so set up Palace and for a short while ran it in parallel to my full-time day job."

It wasn’t long doing this before Shane went full time at Palace. "I’d quickly established an excellent team of time served tradesmen and they needed work to keep them busy. Many of this original team are still with him.

"Phil is our Senior Fascia Installations Manager, Martin leads on roofing and roof maintenance, Tracy, my wife, is our Showroom Manager, who handles all the day to day enquiries and runs the admin side of the business, also making sure we're all in the right place at the right time!

"Then there's the two Alans, our flat roof specialists and not to be forgotten, Beau, my dog, my wing commander and loyal companion, who has never missed a day and is my most trusted advisor.

"Beau is always with me in the van and customers love him."

The main services Palace Roofline offer include Facias, Soffits and Guttering, full replacement and repairs, new roofs covering all aspects, whether flat or pitched, all roofing repairs, dry verge protection plus other services including car ports, leadwork and chimney repairs and refurbishments etc.

Outside of his day job Shane is a man of many pastimes. "I enjoy life outdoors, fly fishing is one of my passions, both for trout and salmon, I can often be found at Carsington Water or in one of my favourite places, the river Tweed where the picture overleaf shows me with a 14lb spring salmon, which took me many years to finally catch. Such a rare thing these days and such a majestic fish," says Shane.

Shane is also a passionate horse racing enthusiast, so much so that he is one of a syndicate of six people, the ‘Crown Connoisseurs’ who between them race four horses. "We have recently acquired two new 2 year olds named Crooked Crown and Twisted Tiara, so named as one of the six members in our syndicate is from Barnstable, one of the other towns in the UK to have a twisted spire."

Ed: According to Wikipedia there are seven churches in the UK with twisted spires, who knew!

"I’ve always loved attending the races, there’s nothing better that donning a smart suit and spending the weekend in a nice hotel. A friend introduced me to ‘Six Strings’ my first horse, we then set up Crown Connoisseurs seven years ago and we are still going strong. We now have a new trainer and are winning races and seeing great results.

"Oisin Murphy, champion jockey, regularly rides our horses with the Palace company logo, as I sponsor all our horses. Our colours represent the Beefeaters uniform, the kings soldiers who protect the Crown jewels."

Not content with his own business, fishing, and horses you’ll see Shane on the sideline cheering on Brampton Victoria who Palace Roofline sponsor, you can spot Shane on the picture on the left after they recently won 3:1 against Long Eaton to win the Derbyshire FA Sunday Junior Cup.

So, one very busy man, "but never too busy to offer a great service," he adds. If you see him in his van give him a wave, or if he’s out and about walking Beau, say 'hello'.