Rolton Group say goodbye to long-standing member, Charles Smith as he retires after 39 years of employment!

Charles Smith joined Rolton Group in 1981 as a Draftsman and was the companies first employee to be on Rolton’s payroll back when the company was owned and ran by David Rolton, Peter Rolton’s elder brother. At the same time, Rolton Group’s second heavy lifting job arrived which was to lift 2000 tonne offshore production decks in Almeria, Charles and David then spent three months to design 50 lorry loads of steelwork to go to Spain. Charles was responsible for drawing much of the steelwork for this hefty project. The pre-historic technology that was available in 1981 coupled with the lack of cost-effective computers meant that Charles had to manually draw on film with an ink pen- something that today’s engineers would not envy!

Charles continuously adapted his role within the company depending on the business requirements at the time. In the early years much of the work that came in involved underpinning as post WW2, many houses had incorrect foundations which resulted in the walls cracking and houses failing, something that we do not experience in today’s modern world. Charles carried out endless amounts of underpinning for numerous clients, there are literally whole streets in Wellingborough that Charles was responsible for making safe and these homes are still standing today. In fact, Charles became so good at this that many Rolton staff members would ask that he surveyed houses for them when purchasing their homes.

A man of many skills, Charles reinvented himself to become Rolton’s very own project problem solver and our client’s agony aunt. Often modern housebuilders have little to no time to deal with problems that arise, Charles would therefore make every effort to visit major clients and listen to their problems over a cup of tea and then employ a contractor to resolve the issue in hand. A prime example is when the late Jade Goody bought a house for her mum and the house began to crack and fall down due to poor underpinning. The builders did not want to break the news to Jade who had just significant sums of money on the house, so they called upon Charles, who had to survey the house and alleviate the problem which led to yet another satisfied client.

Charles has been an esteemed member of the team since he first joined 39 years ago and has shared his knowledge and expertise across two generations. When Peter Rolton, the current Chairman of Rolton Group was at college, Charles would take him out on-site visits and have him hold the tape measure so that he could gain practical knowledge and experience. Fast forward to 2019 and Charles was taking Jack Rolton, Peter Rolton’s son, on-site visits with him where Jack would hold the tape measure and learn from Charles just like his father before him.

On behalf of the Rolton team, the clients he has worked with and the individual staff members that he has helped along the way, we would like to say a massive thank you to Charles. Rolton Group would not be who we are today without you and we wish you a long, healthy and relaxing retirement.”