A highly respected auctioneer who has notched up more than 50 years experience in the rostrum has been crowned the winner of this year’s Royal Northern Agricultural Society unsung hero award.
The society’s David Argo Award, which is presented to an unsung hero employed in the agricultural sector, will be presented to Thainstone Mart stalwart Allan Taylor.
Allan recently retired from Aberdeen and Northern Marts after 53 years service, but will continue to be seen around the mart working one day a week with the young auctioneers.
Describing himself as a “Tarland tick”, he says he first got interested in auctioneering as a young loon accompanying his father to sheep sales in Aboyne.
“I was fascinated by the auctioneer and I remember going home and practising in my own little way. I always remember doing it in the stick shed – the reason being, there was an echo coming off the walls,” said Mr Taylor.
After encouragement from members of the local farming community, Allan set about applying for his first job with ANM where he worked full-time from April 1962 until December 2006 when he went down to a three-day week.
He started out as a trainee clerk at Kittybrewster Mart in Aberdeen in 1962, and eventually became a junior auctioneer at Aboyne in 1967 and stayed working there until the Thainstone Centre opened in 1990.
“My father was working not far from there and my mother belonged to Aboyne so it was like I was back home,” said Mr Taylor.
When asked what he enjoyed most about being an auctioneer, Allan says the highlight was always the next sale.
“I almost feel in this line of business that you are only as good as your last performance,” said Mr Taylor.
“You are constantly trying to keep the numbers up and to keep customers happy.”
And keeping customers happy is certainly something Allan managed to do.
As one citation for the award states: “With a unique selling style and skilful use of his voice, he could captivate his audience and create an excellent sale ring atmosphere.”
Another reads: “Allan is a master auctioneer with his own particular style and can adapt to whatever the occasion whether it be a weekly sale or a specialist event. Allan has an unrivalled knowledge of farms and farming families in the north-east of Scotland, in many cases knowing families through three generations. Allan is always jovial and friendly.”
When describing his career, Allan says: “It’s been a fantastic life and I was very fortunate that I was taught by some extremely capable auctioneers.”
As well as making friends across the industry, Allan says he is thankful for the friends he made with fellow colleagues, despite the odd prank played on one another.
One such prank occurred when Allan was asked to help out at Thainstone’s rare breeds sale.
“One of my colleagues was running it and he was telling me about it on the Friday night before. He told me there was a llama for the sale and he told me the animal was worth a few thousand pounds,” said Mr Taylor.
“The next day at the sale in cam the llama when I was in the rostrum. The first thing it did was spit on me. In the end a guy at the side gave me £30 for it and my colleague looked around the post and said gotcha.”
So what are Allan’s plans for retirement?
He says he hopes to spend more time with his family – wife Audrey, sons Michael and Gordon, and grandchildren Jack and Erin.
A keen golfer, he will also continue to pursue his interest in the sport and make use of a special set of clubs presented to him by members of the north-east farming community for his retirement.
* Allan will be presented with his award at an awards lunch on Friday, November 6, at the Skyway Hotel (formerly the Thistle Hotel) at Aberdeen Airport. Tickets cost £25 and are available from RNAS secretary Alison Argo. They can be obtained by calling Mrs Argo on 07714899628 or by emailing secretary@rnas.info