Reach for the sky

Look across the CBD at sunset and you’re unlikely to miss seeing bright, new copper sheeting shining from within the nest of scaffolding surrounding the Orange United Church in Anson Street. This week Orange City Life caught up with the father and son team from Sydney-based Ashford Roofing, who have made heritage work their speciality for over 35 years.

“I did my trade in England,” said Ray. “I used to do all the old Benskins pubs and all the manor houses and so on. I've mainly done heritage work and it is a lot easier in my opinion, you're not running around trying to compete with everyone else, doing everything from iron roofs to tile roofs — I've done them all, but this is like a niche thing.”

Copper, slate and English peg tiles are the Ashford’s speciality and that, of course, means their clients more often than not, fall into one of two categories.

“Pubs and churches! They go well together,” said Ray. “Churches are interesting, they are fun and I meet a lot of very nice people… I like the clergy, they have a lifestyle of their own and you get some real characters, especially in these country towns.”

“Yeah, it’s the people that make the jobs good,” said Ray’s son Ben, who is starting to take over the running of the family business.

But just when Ray will be willing to step back seem to be a matter of contention.

“He'll never retire, he'll die on the roof!” said Ben.

“We'll they can put my ashes up there, I like that idea,” said Ray, who after spending a career around churches didn’t hesitate when asked if he’s picked a preferred venue for his last rights.

“Yes, St Johns in Darlinghurst! And then put my ashes up on the dome at the Queen Victoria Building.”

The spire on the Orange Uniting Church is the twelfth or thirteenth Ray and Ben have worked on. They have also reroofed church spires in Mudgee, Goulburn and they actually did the Holy Trinity church spire in Orange about 15 years ago.

The copper sheeting for their current job was all cut out at their home in Cronulla, with Ben drawing out a template on the ground based off measurements taken last year.

“Unfortunately, this tower is shaped like a rhinoceros horn! So one side fit and the other side had to be altered,” said Ben.

“Nothing is square in our business, pretty much everything is always a bit wonky, but this tower is definitely bent.”

Ben can count on his fingers the number of times he has worked on a regular tile or corrugated iron roof and he has no plans of doing any more if he can help it.

“I could never do the normal roofing; you might as well just chuck me in an office,” he said.

“With this, it’s always different, you get to see different places and we travel around Australia and overseas.”

The specialised nature of their work means the Ashford’s are booked up for about a year ahead. They are currently building copper domes on a building in Canberra and have 21,000 slate tiles ready to go on a roof in Sydney.

The nature of the materials they work with means it is quite a physical job and clambering over steep church roofs is not for everybody.

“Oh, we hate heights,” both Ray and Ben reply when asked, which isn’t exactly the answer one would expecting from people in their profession.

“Well, I have had a couple of structures underneath me go and that's more what I'm scared about,” Ben said. “It's not the height, but what I'm walking on.

“I've had I-beams not bolted in the centre and they've split on me and stuff like that. Most accidents are because someone hasn't done their job probably.

“But heights? You get used to it after a while. You have to have respect for it, but in saying that you've got to learn for everything to become second nature… you've got to be able to do it with your eyes closed, know where everything is because you have to carry stuff — it is certainly not something that you pick up in a couple of days.

“When we bring a guy on, we won't let them go onto a roof for months and months, because they have to learn how to walk on the tiles and just take their time.”

When Ray first came to Australia all those decades ago it was the lifestyle that drew him to stay and he has not changed his mind in the years since.

“It is the best place in the world. You don't appreciate what Australia has got until you go to one or two other places and Australia is definitely the best place… but I'm not a fan of Orange in winter!” he said.

“No. I’m definitely not a fan of working outside during winter!” said Ben. “And for some reason we always seem to end up in the coldest places. I'll never forgive him for sending me down to Cradle Mountain one winter!”