Cleaning Windows for 50 Years

When I'm cleaning windows: Veteran window cleaner Peter Lawton is celebrating 50 years in the job - and has no intention of hanging up his chammy leather! Peter 71, who joined the family business in October 1959, admits he now spends more time talking to customers than cleaning windows. But he is proud of his contribution to the town over half a decade and describes his work as 'a lovely job'.
He said: "The first time I went up a ladder was when I was seven. My father was in the fire service during the Second World War, and he had a 100ft turntable ladder, and he told me to go up it. "I went right to the top, apart from the last bit. So I've never really suffered from a fear of heights. "I'd done it during school holidays and weekends so when I started, I just went into it. "I've got no plans to retire. My grandfather worked into his 80s and it looks like I will be doing the same." The firm was set up by Peter's grandfather in the 1930s and his father also worked as a window cleaner. During its peak the round stretched from Rhyd y Foel to Llandudno and took in Colwyn Bay Hotel, Queen's Hotel, Mount Stewart, Rhos Abbey and Bodnant Hall.
Peter, a member of Conwy Camera Club and keen walker, said: "It was a nice town, a very community spirited town. The shops were fantastic, people used to travel from Chester to shop at Wood's on Station Road, which is now Peacocks. It was a cracking place. Full of people working for themselves. "Stead & Simpson, which is where KFC is now, had a bronze shop front and we used to have to polish it. They were nice shops. I felt proud making the shops look their best, to make the town look good." Peter, who now works part-time on the round, has seen a number of changes including the introduction of the one-way system, the pedestrianisation of Station Road and the closure of the town's hotels.
He said: "I've taken pride in my work over the years, you can't stay with the same customers if you don't. You had to do a good job in the old days, shop manageresses would pick you up on anything. "My advice is that you have to work, people don't seem to want to work these days. You need to take pride in your work. "The cold mornings don't bother me, where there is no sense there is no feeling. It's a lovely job, but I spend more time chatting than window cleaning these days."