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| Jim's popular logo. |
Say Goodbye to Jim Thompson, from Ardrossan, N Ayrshire, Scotland. Jim passed away due to ill health in November last year (2015), but is only coming to light now after Facebook friends tried to get in touch with him. Jim was known for his videos & on facebook for his window cleaning additive - "Mpower Shine". Many window cleaners also copied Jim's logo shown above as their facebook statuses. He also shared some popular videos on his YouTube channel, whilst later changing the name of his window cleaning additive to "West Coast Cleaning Solutions."
Popular window cleaner Robert Griffin was hit by a train near Twyford Station, gripped by worries about his taxes: A popular self-employed Woodley window cleaner became gripped with anxiety over his tax return and ended his life under a train. But when his father took his paperwork to a tax expert after his death, he found he only owed £13. Coroner Peter Bedford was conducting the inquest into the death of Robert Griffin, of Jerome Road, Woodley who died on the railway line at Waingels Copse near Twyford Station on Sunday, May 17. His mother Ruth told the coroner how many messages of affection the family had received after his death from his customers. She said: “He never could have realised how much he was loved.”
The coroner at the inquest in Reading Town Hall heard from Detective Constable Matt Harvey of British Transport Police that Mr Griffin, 54, was hit by a train. CCTV footage on the train showed he had gone “quite deliberately running at a 45 degree angle towards the train”. When police and paramedics arrived Mr Griffin lived long enough to give his name, age and address and said: “I’m sorry, I don’t want to waste your time” before he suffered cardiac arrest. Coroner asked if there was any sign Mr Griffin was pursued or was trying to cross the line and tripped, but DC Harvey said there was not.
Mr Griffin also made a phone call to another nephew in Scotland Stuart Griffin saying “You don’t understand what’s happening, I can’t go on, I can’t live my life this way.” He added: “I am in trouble, I’m worried I’m going to jail.” He said “things didn’t add up” and he was worried he had not paid enough tax. Janet Carpenter, Mr Griffin’s girlfriend of more than 11 years, said he had had a fall from his ladder a short time before and become afraid to climb it. She said he had told her he had been having suicidal thoughts the day before he died but had never mentioned it before. He was worried about his taxes, had a panic attack and after she convinced him to stay the night, he had a restless night during which she found him “in the foetal position” in the bathroom at around 1am.
The coroner asked the family if they thought he meant to end his own life. Sister Liz Alder told him the family found out afterwards Mr Griffin had taken all the photographs of his family off his walls and taken them with him to the railway line. Mr Griffin’s father Dennis described how he had checked his son's affairs after his death and found he only owed £13. He had just invested in new ladders for £300. The coroner recorded the verdict that Mr Griffin had taken his own life “while concerned about his business affairs”.
'His contribution for Walthamstow was immense and selfless' - Former councillor dies aged 88: Tributes have been paid to a long serving councillor and community figure who has died at the age of 88. Bob Wheatley, the former Walthamstow Liberal Democrats councillor and Mayor of Waltham Forest, died in hospital on December 30.
Bob, who worked as a window cleaner for over 50 years, was abandoned by his mother outside a phone box in Islington when he was a baby and he later lived in a Barnado's home. He was evacuated during World War Two to Kent and later joined the merchant navy in 1942. Bob then settled in Walthamstow in the 1962 when he took up window cleaning.
In tribute, former Lib Dem councillor Mahmood Hussain said: “Bob strived mightily and selflessly towards achieving goals that would benefit the community, rather than himself. “Bob befitted the description of a true local community champion. “He committed himself to working for the betterment of the local community. “His contribution for Walthamstow was immense and selfless. “He was a towering figure, loved by all young and old, a real local hero. “Many, many people of Walthamstow will be mourning the death this much loved, much respected, a true community warrior.”
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – Theodore Thomas (Tommy) Wrenn, 54, of Dongan Hills who was family oriented, died Wednesday in Calvary Hospital, Brooklyn, after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. Born in Brooklyn, Mr. Wrenn spent most of his life living in Dongan Hills, having moved there in 1969. He attended New Dorp High School and worked in Manhattan as a self-employed professional window cleaner since the age of 17, retiring only when his illness prevented him from working.
Mr. Wrenn enjoyed spending time with his family, especially his grandchildren. He loved to play cards and watch his favorite teams, the New York Jets and the New York Mets, play. He was an uncle and great uncle to more than 75 nieces and nephews, who all adored him, family said. "He was extremely funny,'' said his daughter, Donna Marie Ivackovic. "He was charismatic, loving, athletic. He was just magnetic. He had that thing everybody wants.'' The funeral service will be Saturday at 9 a.m. in the Scarpaci Funeral Home of Staten Island, Pleasant Plains. Burial will be in Ocean View Cemetery, Oakwood.
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| Window Cleaner, Mick Amos (with daughter) shows letter from Department of Work and Pensions advising him his wife wasn't sick enough, 2 days after she died. |
Elsewhere in Essex: Mum told she's too healthy for sick benefits on the day she dies: A mother battling a serious lung condition was told she no longer qualified for benefits on the day she died from her illness. Dawn Amos, 67, died as a result of suffering chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a collection of lung diseases. It left her with difficulty breathing, unable to walk for long periods of time, dress herself or do daily tasks independently. Heartbroken window cleaning husband Mick Amos, 64, of Masefield Road, Braintree, discovered a letter sent from the department two days after his wife’s death.
It notified Mrs Amos that her allowance was being withdrawn based on ‘treatment, medication, symptoms and test results’. It had been sent on the day, November 27, Mr Amos had taken the decision to turn off Dawn’s life support machine. Mr Amos, a self-employed window cleaner, said: “It’s disgusting and heartbreaking. We had to turn her machine off. “How ill do you have to be?
Tributes have been paid to a popular 20 year-old ‘gentle giant’ killed in a Sheffield car crash during heavy rain. Sean Craig Salvin died as a result of his injuries after his red Volkswagen Golf crashed while travelling along Ecclesfield Road in the area known as Wooley Wood Bottom at about 10.30 pm on Wednesday night, December 30. Police said no other vehicles are believed to have been involved in the incident. Officers are now appealing for witnesses to come forward as an investigation takes place into the collision.
Star readers described Mr Salvin as a ‘gentle giant’ and a ‘lovely lad’ as tributes were paid to him on Facebook. Andrew Gibson said: “That junction and road is horrendous. When it rains and wind blows, all the residue from the trees falls on to the road and makes it slippy.” Tributes have also been paid to Sheffield United fan Mr Salvin on the Blades Mad football forum. One poster said Mr Salvin, who worked as a manager at his family’s window cleaning business and had previously studied at Longley Park Sixth Form College, had been a ‘great bloke’ and a ‘true Blade’. He said: “Thoughts are with Sean’s family and friends at this sad time.”
An inquest into the death of a former RNAS Culdrose sailor has been unable to say if he meant to take his own life. Andrew John Edwards, 42, was found dead of a gunshot wound at his home in Helston in February. Armed police had been called to the property in the early hours of the morning after neighbours reported hearing two shots.
An inquest in Truro on Monday heard how Mr Edwards had served in the Navy and then as a guard at the gate of Culdrose, before starting his own bouncy castle, window cleaning and chimney sweep businesses. The hearing was told he also worked as a stove fitter for a company called TSI Limited but was unhappy with the business and said he was owed money. The police said money from the company had been paid into his bank account on the evening he died.
His friend Robert Kemp said Mr Edwards had been enjoying a night out with friends at the Blue Anchor in Helston when he suddenly became upset and angry. He left the pub by climbing over a wall at the rear of the property and made his way home shortly after midnight. The police said no one else was involved in the death. Assistant coroner Barrie van den Berg said that without a note or message, it was impossible to say if Mr Edwards had intended to take his own life before the incident. He recorded an open verdict.
