[bobplum]

did anyone see the programme last night about the winter of 63 on bbc 2
do you know anyone who was a cleaner in those days

nothing moved for about 2 months

[Jack Harris]

My grandad was mate although he never mentioned the winter of 63 to me.

[Neil Gornall]

I was born in May that year.

My mum wouldn't let me out to clean coz my nappy froze.




I wear Thermal ones now   

[Steve Sed]

My granddad was window cleaning then in Liverpool. I was born in '63, but don't remember much about that year.

[CLEANCARE WC]

Maybe DAI will remember it? He is about 70 I dont know if he was cleaning windows that far back?

[EandM]

Saw the program.
Started snowing before christmas and bar about one week didn't stop again until March.
People were a bit more hardy then !

[G Griffin]

I had to have a month off because of the snow, only three winters ago. And many more were the same. It was great on here; people were were 'losing it'  .

[trevor perry]

my dads was cleaning in 1963 and was one of only two window cleaners who kept working through out the winter in this area, he carried his ladders on his shoulders to all areas sometimes walking 5 miles at a time, on commercial work carrying a 40 ft this distance, no squeegees then only mop and scrim and to stop them freezing he would sprinkle them with metholated spirit.
  he had only been going a couple of years so was skint and so had to work, his hands became severely cracked especially between the thumb and fingers due to wringing out scrims and on a few occasions stitched the cracks up with a normal needle and thread when he got home, i dont think they make characters like him anymore, he can still keep up with majority of windowcleaners now on a ladder even though he is 75 years old.

[CLEANCARE WC]

my dads was cleaning in 1963 and was one of only two window cleaners who kept working through out the winter in this area, he carried his ladders on his shoulders to all areas sometimes walking 5 miles at a time, on commercial work carrying a 40 ft this distance, no squeegees then only mop and scrim and to stop them freezing he would sprinkle them with metholated spirit.
  he had only been going a couple of years so was skint and so had to work, his hands became severely cracked especially between the thumb and fingers due to wringing out scrims and on a few occasions stitched the cracks up with a normal needle and thread when he got home, i dont think they make characters like him anymore, he can still keep up with majority of windowcleaners now on a ladder even though he is 75 years old.

funny isnt it, they had squeegees as early as 1938 in the usa as i have just seen them in the empire state video. it took ALOT longer for things to make it across the pond back then!

[Nick_Thompson]

Trevor, An amazing anecdote from your father's day. Their generation seemed to be made of different stuff.

 Nick

[trevor perry]

my dads was cleaning in 1963 and was one of only two window cleaners who kept working through out the winter in this area, he carried his ladders on his shoulders to all areas sometimes walking 5 miles at a time, on commercial work carrying a 40 ft this distance, no squeegees then only mop and scrim and to stop them freezing he would sprinkle them with metholated spirit.
  he had only been going a couple of years so was skint and so had to work, his hands became severely cracked especially between the thumb and fingers due to wringing out scrims and on a few occasions stitched the cracks up with a normal needle and thread when he got home, i dont think they make characters like him anymore, he can still keep up with majority of windowcleaners now on a ladder even though he is 75 years old.

funny isnt it, they had squeegees as early as 1938 in the usa as i have just seen them in the empire state video. it took ALOT longer for things to make it across the pond back then!

whilst cleaning a school in the 60s there was a caretaker who told my dad that he had lived in america, he claimed to have done all sorts of jobs from a rodeo rider and other wacky things, he also claimed he had cleaned the empire state building and went on to describe a squeegee, my dad thought he was just a bull crapper untill a few years later unger came over to this country doing demonstrations of squeegees even using them on 30ft poles

[Steve Sed]

my dads was cleaning in 1963 and was one of only two window cleaners who kept working through out the winter in this area, he carried his ladders on his shoulders to all areas sometimes walking 5 miles at a time, on commercial work carrying a 40 ft this distance, no squeegees then only mop and scrim and to stop them freezing he would sprinkle them with metholated spirit.
  he had only been going a couple of years so was skint and so had to work, his hands became severely cracked especially between the thumb and fingers due to wringing out scrims and on a few occasions stitched the cracks up with a normal needle and thread when he got home, i dont think they make characters like him anymore, he can still keep up with majority of windowcleaners now on a ladder even though he is 75 years old.

funny isnt it, they had squeegees as early as 1938 in the usa as i have just seen them in the empire state video. it took ALOT longer for things to make it across the pond back then!

It's weird, but my dad window cleaned until about '82 but only used a squeegee on shops. Unfortunately he isn't around to ask why.

[CLEANCARE WC]

wfp in the 50's in usa too!

[Ian Lancaster]

I remember the winter of '63

I was 18 and in my last year at school - upper sixth at Gravesend Grammar.

None of this wimpy "School closed, lack of heating/teachers can't get in" etc.  We were expected to carry on as normal.  

A few years before the start of my window cleaning career - if you'd told me then what I was going to be doing for the majority of my working life I would have called you a *********

People did a lot more walking in those days, only the well off had cars so a couple of feet of snow on the ground was just a nuisance, not the catastrophe it would be today.

On the subject of squeegees, they were introduced by Scott Young of SYR Research.  He went to America and got an exclusive deal with Ettore Steccone to market them in the UK.  He had enormous trouble trying to convince British shiners that sqeegees were better - they just laughed at him and told him to go away.

In desperation he hired a taxi for a few weeks, then drove around London looking for window cleaners at work.  Every time he saw one he made the driver stop, leapt out of the cab with a bucket, mop and squeegee and ran up to where the window cleaner was working.  He swabbed, squeegeed and detailed the window then leaped back in his cab and drove off without saying anything.

After a few weeks London was buzzing with stories about the "Phantom Window Cleaner"

That was the making of him, the rest is history - he became the first British window cleaning millionaire.  

I heard the man himself tell that story at a NFMW&GC exhibition in the late 90's, the first year Craig Mawlam gave a talk on how he had developed his business OTT (before he started Ionic BWCA etc)

[brynley]

i don't remember the winter of 1963, but i remember 1967 walking to school with snow up to my knee's.

[bobplum]

Ian what a brilliant story

[lee_dewing]

Spoke to 1 of my custies before xmas.

He was 18 and just started working for his dad who was a builder said his dad and his self couldn't work for 8 weeks outside temp and snow meant they couldn't mix cement up to lay bricks

I remember also on here a couple of years ago wa it winter 09-10
we had a month off but that was timing of snow either side of xmas then following winter nov 10
it snowed was -10 at night, then snowed again next month, dec.

Did i remember that right.
Feb 2012 snowed just lost under a week.

let's hope this is the same, hope it rains hard soon quickest way rid.
but temps low this week some sites say 4c others say 0-1c daytime temps who do you beleive 

[lee_dewing]

I've been a windy since 2003 i think

Almost every year a custie has told me it's gonna be the coldest winter for 100 yrs.

I think they have only got weather records for 100 yrs anyway.

I hope this is the usual 2 weeks disruption winter throws at us.

someone on here said a few years back save £20 a week snow fund and that they always allowed 2 weeks choas in winter happening anywhere from nov-march.

I'm sure it was the die hard ladder user on here that had quite a lot of heated discussions with fellow windies on here.

[bobplum]

i usually save about £1200 but this year going to make it £2000 and thinking of an extra stream of revenue to long alongside window cleaning...........if any one knows of one let me know

[Spruce]

i usually save about £1200 but this year going to make it £2000 and thinking of an extra stream of revenue to long alongside window cleaning...........if any one knows of one let me know

The Americans gave the game away a few weeks ago. The suggestion was to mint a trillion dollar coin and pay it into the federal bank account to ease their outstanding debt. They allegedly considered and now discounted the idea, but I wouldn't be surprised if it happened on the quiet.

Now, none of us would need to mint a trillion dollar coin, .....................................