Window Cleaning News

Jeremy Lamb, of Excelsior Springs, uses high-pressure hot water to clean the exterior of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Kansas City on Wednesday, Jan. 25. Lamb, a 20-year- veteran of high-rise window washing, uses a main line and a safety line to dangle from the center. Lamb, a supervisor with Shawnee Mission-based MTB Services, has been working on cleaning the interior and the exterior of the building for about a month.

MTB window washers Lucino Zurita of Grandview (left) and Juan Lopez of Olathe braved Monday's heat to clean the panes of the Performing Arts Center in 2012.

The Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts: Jeremy Lamb and Paul Stann, from MTB Services, clean the stainless steel roofs of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts on Thursday, January 30, 2014 in Kansas City, Mo. The project is expected to take several days to complete half of the complex's roofs. A second visit to finish the rest of the roofs is expected in the spring.

The latest landslip on the Old Beer Road. A quick-thinking window cleaner has been praised for his actions when the Beer coast path crumbled beneath the feet of an elderly man.

Window cleaner helps save 88-year-old landslip victim: A quick-thinking window cleaner has been praised for his actions when the Beer coast path crumbled beneath the feet of an elderly man. The stricken pensioner fell three metres from the ‘notoriously unstable’ Old Beer Road, but his rescuer managed to secure him with a rope until emergency crews arrived.

Helicopter, coastguard and ambulance teams recovered the unharmed 88-year-old with the aid of the window cleaner’s ladder at around 4.40pm last Monday. “It’s lucky he didn’t fall any further down – he was a very lucky gentleman,” said Beer Coastguard Terry Hoare. “It must’ve been quite scary but he was fine.” He said the man, who lived close by and had been looking out to sea, was checked over by a paramedic and taken home. The coastguard has advised everybody to stay away from the area as it is ‘obviously a very unstable area of cliff’.

Police have fenced off the scene, and also on the Chine and at Seaton Hole to prevent members of the public walking on the beach below. Old Beer Road was closed after a land slip during heavy rainfall in July 2012 and the South West Coast Path was subsequently diverted. The route is fenced off, but Terry said even when they were there a man had climbed over the fence to take the shortcut.

The Mole and Jersey Show Episode 16: The window cleaning and pressure washing industry's only web series. Sit back, waste some time! Do want to improve your window washing business? Do you have a pressure washing company or maybe you do roof cleaning? Well theyl talk shop and you may be able to pick up a thing or two. The Segments:
3:53 Jerseys Junk.....Wagtail Hip Dipper
8:48 Marketing madness.....Problem Customers
16:27 Fail of the week.......Jenga Fail
19:02 The Top 5.....Worst things being married to a small business owner.

Lynne Fiscelli, owner of Pane View Window Cleaning LLC in Shelby Township was elected to the International Window Cleaning Association Board of Directors. Pane View Window Cleaning has been in business for 20 years and Fiscelli is excited to be able to continue to serve and help others succeed and make positive changes in the industry.

Greenpeace satirises P&G ads over palm oil deforestation: Protesters ordered held on $50k bond each -Broxterman said the protesters broke window locks to get outside, then braced the windows shut so police couldn't get outside to reach them. The protesters tied off their repelling gear on window washing stanchions attached to the buildings. The protesters' 60-foot banners were on the sides of both buildings for more than an hour before they surrendered to police. They were charged with burglary, vandalism, trespassing and inducing panic. Greenpeace states that Indonesia’s forests are disappearing at a rate of “more than nine Olympic swimming pools each minute, with palm oil being the biggest driver of forest destruction” – a pretty bleak picture, by anyone’s standards.

PHOENIX – When Joseph Cicero began climbing high-rise buildings to wash windows in 1983, it was a day job to supplement his dreams of being a rock star. The owner of American Flag & Pole Co., a small business near downtown Phoenix, actually knew nothing about flags and flagpoles when he was asked to fix a flag atop a building he was cleaning. The owner was coming to town, and the flag was becoming unstrung. And employees were scrambling to fix it. “Someone said, ‘What about him?’” he said. Cicero hired a helicopter to hover over the flagpole while he rappelled down and restrung the flag.

Then, like many entrepreneurs before him, Cicero saw a niche. He launched American Flag and Pole Co. in 1985. By 1988, the company was also manufacturing flags at its facility rather than buying from wholesalers. “I kinda put all the different skill sets together and just attacked this flagpole industry,” Cicero said. “Through the years, it evolved: manufacturing flags, manufacturing poles, putting them up, taking them down, climbing them, servicing them.”

Today, the company has 14 employees manufacturing American and state flags and steel flagpoles. American flags range from 2 feet by 3 feet to 40 feet by 80 feet. The nine state flags range from 2 feet by 3 feet to 20 feet by 38 feet. All flags are sewn on commercial grade nylon with reinforced corners, a the design developed after Cicero and his employees noticed the life of flags getting shorter and shorter. The flags are appliqued instead of screen-printed, so it limits the complexity of the design the company’s five seamstresses can produce. “These girls can go through miles of stripes. We go through a lot,” Cicero said.

Steel delivered from the docks in Long Beach, Calif., becomes poles that can reach 150 feet, a size costing almost $23,000. Despite his long-term success in a niche market, Cicero doesn’t consider himself an entrepreneur. “I feel blessed. I was at the right place at the right time and I worked hard, created a good product,” he said. “We never wanted to cut any corners. Even when I was in the window-cleaning business, I wanted to do everything right.”

It’s that attitude that has kept 10 employees working alongside him for 30 years, including Fran Truesdell, the company’s accountant for two decades. “It’s a good atmosphere. We all know our jobs and we do it,” Truesdell said. “There’s no, ‘It’s not my job’ here. It’s about teamwork.” Terry Lopez is going on 12 years as contracts manager, handling permits and contracts and coordinating installations and blue-staking, or marking underground facilities such as electric, gas and water that could be damaged during digging. “It’s a simple flow here, even down to (taking care of) the dog,” she said. “Everyone’s dedicated. Maybe it’s a matter of respect.” More than 30 years later, Cicero is still out there climbing. In mid-February, he was up a pole in Gilbert for a homebuilder “for the love of it.” “I liked the challenge of the climb, and I knew it was something no one else wanted to do,” he said.

Revealed: Riskiest job in the world?...And what do you get paid for it: Burj Khalifa has been in the news ever since the project was announced. The latest coverage given to the iconic tower was by the US channel Cable News Network (CNN) revealing few interesting facts… for instance how many cleaners take on Dubai’s – if not the world’s – riskiest job of cleaning Burj Khalifa, how much time it takes them to clean the tower and – interestingly – how much salary is paid to them.

The report said that covered in 24,000 separate panes of glass, it takes around 60 people from Philippines, India and Nepal three months to clean each and every pane. And then they start all over again. Dipak Ghal, a window cleaner, says: “The work is interesting and the view is beautiful. Dipak had not seen building half the size of Burj Khalifa in his life let alone climb one. But his brother said he should leave Kathmandu and give it a try.” The cleaners start from the very top, says CNN correspondent. But if it’s windy the cleaners take rest as the gusts could swing them metres away. CNN says as a new recruit Dipak can make $600 (Dh2,200) a month.

Burj Khalifa was earlier in the new when Paramount Pictures shot Tom Cruise film 'Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol' at the tower. Apart from Burj Khalifa, another iconic tower China’s Shanghai Tower – the world’s second tallest – was also in the news last week when two Russian daredevils climbed the under-construction high-rise without permission. They also posted a stomach-turning video on YouTube which attracted over a million hits in just two days.

Cricket: Umpire Lee Sockett handed Abu Dhai opportunity - Window cleaner Lee Sockett is used to heights ... and now he's also climbing the ladder in the umpiring world. The 33-year-old, from Berry Hill, has been selected to officiate in game involving first-class and international sides in pre-season friendlies in Abu Dhabi. New Zealand, Ireland and the Netherlands are all warming up for next month's Twenty20 World Cup in Bangladesh with games in the Gulf state. And county sides Worcestershire and Derbyshire are also fine-tuning their preparations for the new domestic season, which starts in April in Abu Dhabi.
Sockett, who has been umpiring in the North Staffs and South Cheshire League since 2009, will stand in seven matches in the United Arab Emirates. Star international names such as New Zealand's Brendon McCullum and Ireland's William Porterfield will now be at the mercy of Sockett's finger of fate. The ECB ACO (umpires' association) were asking for umpires who were willing to put their name forward," said Sockett, who is part of a four-man panel in Abu Dhabi. "I had to send a portfolio of matches and the standard I'd officiated at. I didn't expect to be picked, but they said I matched the criteria. "It's an opportunity I can't believe has come my way and it's too good not to take." He flies out next Thursday and stands in his first match the following day when Worcestershire take on the Netherlands in a Twenty20 contest.
"Running my own business gives me the flexibility to juggle my commitments in the summer. "I want to take my umpiring as far as I can." A trip to Abu Dhabi represents a new high for Sockett, who admits his biggest game to date was last year's under-17s county cup final between Kent and Warwickshire at Kibworth. But he says he will just concentrate on his job, and not be star-struck by the international players he's in charge of. "I'm going to be umpiring players who we'll be seeing on television in the World Cup. It's unreal because last year I was doing pre-season friendlies at Wood Lane and Cheadle," he said. "There'll be a few nerves, but once I get out there, it's just a game of cricket. "It doesn't matter to me whoever is batting or bowling. They're still sending a ball down and I have to make a decision."

How cleaning is helping shape the sustainability agenda (Article by Torsten Deutzmann) - Torsten Deutzmann - strategic business unit director of Unger Professional Worldwide and managing director of Unger Europe - writes his latest exclusive blog for ECJ. The words ‘clean' and ‘green' go together perfectly he says - and not just because they rhyme! The sustainability agenda is informing and driving legislation, product design, service provision and trends in so many areas of our lives - and the cleaning and maintenance of our buildings is no exception.

From political circles to public on-line forums, the environment is a hot topic for debate that shows no signs of moving from the top of the agenda. With the UK recently being ravaged by floods and parts of America suffering from the worst snow storms in years, we are all too aware of our changing climate. The result is that organisations are now expected to find ‘greener' ways to run their businesses, and limit the effect their activities have on the wider world. On January 22 this year the European Commission presented the new EU framework on climate and energy for 2030. The main pillars of the new framework are:

• A reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 40 per cent below the 1990 level

• An EU-wide binding target for renewable energy of at least 27 per cent

• Renewed ambitions for energy efficient policies

• A new governance system

• A set of new indicators to ensure a competitive and secure energy system.

It's clear that committing to sustainability is essential for businesses who want not only to survive, but also to thrive, in the 21st century. Renewable energy sources provide a win-win situation for businesses keen to achieve two important aims. The most obvious is to cut energy costs; the other is to demonstrate a commitment to sustainability and lessen the impact of a firm's activities on the environment. The cleaning and maintenance of public buildings, offices and work spaces is an area where companies can start to take the first steps on their sustainability journey. The cleaning industry is rising to the challenge and using technology to find more sustainable ways to clean.

This has seen a rise in machines that need less energy to operate, or incorporate batteries that have a longer run time between faster charges; together with equipment that needs less water and chemicals, but still provide the required hygienic results. Water-fed pole systems that use pure water don't need chemicals, saving both money and helping companies with their ‘green' agendas; plus re-usable, washable pads for cleaning equipment such as mops, mean less waste and more sustainability.

As companies and organisations have become more environmentally aware, an increase in the use of solar panels has created opportunities for innovation, particularly in the window cleaning sector. Installing solar panels represents a big investment in both time and money, so businesses need to ensure that they are kept in top condition to reap the expected rewards. Soiling that is left on the panels stops sunlight from getting through, meaning that less energy is produced, in some cases resulting in a decrease in efficiency of 30 per cent. This is obviously not acceptable, so regular cleaning has to be in place to ensure you protect your investment.

Water-fed poles have adapted and now also lend themselves perfectly to cleaning solar panels, dispensing with the need for ladders or cranes but still cleaning safely and efficiently to help boost solar output. Cleaning with chemicals also runs the risk of leaving a film on the panels that can prevent the sun's rays from getting through, so the most effective way to clean is to use pure water. To get to this state the water is processed to remove the minerals and impurities that would otherwise dry and lead to spots and streaks.

I fully expect even more innovations to emerge in the coming months and years as the cleaning and sustainability agenda continues to gather pace. Tools and systems that provide the cleanest, greenest results, are on the rise - and society, and the cleaning industry, are all the better for it.

Amazing glass that tints on demand is now solar powered: One of the most exciting products from this year's Greenbuild expo is SageGlass' solar-powered windows. Sage's electrocromic windows can be darkened and lightened to filter the sun's heat and light according to a room's needs and the inhabitant's desires. See a full explanation of the technology here.

That takes a small amount of energy, which until now, could only come from plugging into a building's existing power supply. The new product is powered with a slim strip of photovoltaic panels. It's not only sustainable that the glass can power itself, but it's also opens up the product's design possibilities because it's cordless.

SageGlass has currently been installed in 250 projects, including both residential and commercial buildings. This glass is often used to fix a design problem. Philadelphia's Kimmel Center is an example of a space where a window dressing isn't feasible, but the space was overheated. Bryan Green of Sage says he hope that architects and designers can start using the glass more creatively.

Another new feature for SageGlass is the introduction of different control zones within the same pane of glass. These different zones can be independently controlled. So, imagine you have a Eastward-facing pane of SageGlass next to your breakfast table. You want lots of light in the room, but you don't want glare on you iPad. You can darken the lower zones to cut down on glare, while keeping the zones more clear to light the room, creating a kind of ombre effect. The zones can be either manually controlled, or automated with timers.

Like the original product, the solar-powered glass remains somewhat clear even at its darkest tint. "If it weren't for people's desire for natural sunlight and a connection to the outdoors, people wouldn't put windows in buildings," said John Van Dine, founder of Sage. In some ways, windows are a the weak point in our structures, at times letting too much heat and light. Shutters and curtains solve the problem of too much light, but they still absorb heat. You might still want a curtain for privacy's sake, but both these methods block the view to the outdoors. "You defeat the purpose of windows in the first place." 

The N-word insults my sensibilities because of the black people I associated with during my formative years in the 1950s and 1960s, a different time in a different place with a different perspective. First I think of the older black man who washed storefront windows when I was 5 or 6 years old in Logan Square. When he finished up, we sat on the steps down to my father’s grocery store and he educated me on the great black boxers of the day like Joe Louis, Jersey Joe Wolcott, Sandy Saddler and Sugar Ray Robinson.
I cringe at the N-word all these years later because he probably wouldn’t appreciate its increasing use. Then there was the young black man nicknamed Pork Chop who was my work partner in a paperback book warehouse at 26th and Pulaski. I was a kid who just finished my freshman year of college and Pork Chop could have messed with me in what was his space. Instead he taught me the tricks of surviving on that job. I cringe at the N-word because Pork Chop probably wouldn’t appreciate hearing it so much now.

The window-washing boxing aficionado entered and exited my life shortly before Brown v. Board of Education, Pork Chop right around the time the Voting Rights Act was passed, and Charlie about when urban unrest began to explode. Maybe it’s good that younger blacks and whites today are unencumbered enough by the past to use the N-word in NFL locker rooms, on the street, anywhere. Hopefully they’ll understand why an older white guy still is encumbered enough by the past to cringe at some of the things that people of all races call each other these days. Some of us still can remember the 1950s and ’60s.

Shropshire artists upcycle for new exhibition: Upcycling junk into art is the focus of a new exhibition by ten Shropshire artists. Items such as pop cans, old spoons and electrical cable have been transformed into paintings, sculpture and jewellery by the artists. Among the exhibitors is debut artist Mark Carruthers who has been creating a sensation with his models of vintage motorbikes and Camper vans made out of aluminium drink cans. 

It is the first exhibition for 46-year-old Mark, of Oswestry, who only discovered his artistic talent after being made redundant from a factory job. “It started off a year ago as something to do on a rainy day. My aunt brought back an aeroplane made out of a tin can from Australia. I thought it was a great idea, so I started experimenting,” he said. “I look through magazines for ideas, cut out photographs and use them to make cardboard templates.” 

In his reportoire are VW Camper vans, vespa scooters, Harley Davidson motorbikes, tractors and planes, all made out of pop, cider or beer cans. Until now he’s been making them as gifts for family and friends. “I can usually rustle up a vespa in around three hours. I haven’t got a lot of patience, but doing these has done me good because you have to have a lot of patience to make them,” said Mark, now a self-employed window cleaner and gardener.

Charlotte entrepreneurs bringing Bitcoin to the parking meter - Charlotte-based PassportParking Inc. is bringing a new form of currency to the parking meter: Bitcoin. The South End based company offers a one-stop, cloud-based command center for cities, universities and private operators to oversee parking, ticketing enforcement and event management. Passport has high-profile clients across the country, including the cities of Chicago, Detroit, Omaha, Neb., and Asheville and California’s Parks and Recreation Department. Now, the company says, it’s the first of its kind to facilitate the use of Bitcoin to pay for parking in lots and metered spaces using its mobile-pay service.

Bitcoin is a digital currency that’s been around since 2009 but began gaining widespread attention in 2013.  Here’s how it works: anyone can download a program on their computer and use certain online exchanges to convert dollars to bitcoins. The bitcoins can then be transferred directly – and anonymously – between two users anywhere in the world, without credit card fees. Bitcoin is just one of many different means of payment in addition to credit cards that Passport wants to make available to parkers and parking lot operators, says managing partner Bob Youakim. They’re also exploring ways to use Google Wallet, PayPal and even gold, he said.

“You see the Targets of the world get hacked,” Youakim said, and the anonymity of Bitcoin is more attractive.  Passport is not the first Charlotte-area business to embrace Bitcoin. Cornelius-based Waterbean Coffee did its first Bitcoin transaction on Dec. 8, barely more than a month after the shop opened.  Owner Tony Vo says he was the first in the area to accept the new currency, and has since been approached by a window-cleaner and a sandwich shop owner, both interested in setting up Bitcoin payments for their customers. Now other coffee shops are accepting it, too, he said.

Just Opened: Local educator cleans windows and more: Business: Coastal Cape Window Wash LLC -

Location: Braden Drive, Upper Township - Owner: Jonathan Olek, of Palermo - Employees: Owner operated, with occasional help

Coastal Cape Window Wash offers residential and small-business window cleaning - interior and exterior washing. We clean screens, window sills, the window tracks ... that's all included. We also clean glass doors, sliders, chandeliers, mirrors and fans. We scrape and scrub the windows clean. A lot of windows get pretty bad over the winter and they need a little elbow grease put into them. It's a job that no one wants to do. I've been in so many houses where my client says thank God I found you, I hate doing windows.

A lot of my customers are senior citizens and they just can't reach them or they're too high. We go up to three stories and if they don't tilt in, we climb ladders to get to them. I use a basic washing solution of just water and Simple Green cleaning solution. I clean them the old-fashioned way with squeegees, towels and a chamois. We do all sizes of windows, from the smallest to huge bay picture windows on the beachfronts.

In the fall, I recommend we take the screens out and store them for the winter. If you leave them in, it takes a toll on the windows. The wind blows particles from the screen and embeds them in the glass. For a standard size window inside and out - the window washing, washing and cleaning the screens, wiping down the window sill and track - it's about $8. The price runs a little higher for larger windows and a little less for smaller.

We also wear little protective booties on our shoes. We make sure we leave the homes cleaner than when we got there. Entry: I'm in charge of discipline management at Jordan Road School in Somers Point, prior to that I was a teacher for 13 years. I worked for a buddy washing windows for seven years prior to opening up my own company. The future: The goal is to build the business to the point where I have a few crews working for me. Right now I serve from Ventnor to Stone Harbor, and I envision covering more of the coast.

V/LINE can’t do much about the reliability of its Albury - Melbourne service any time soon, but it’s enthusiastic — literally — to do some window dressing. The train service’s chief Theo Taifalos said after this week’s first meeting of its customer reference group at Benalla that cleaner train windows and better platform announcements would top the to-do list. “Giving customers cleaner trains and better communication is something we can get on to straight away,” he said. But Albury’s customer representative Bill Traill said he feared tackling lesser issues would lead to work on more substantial issues being delayed and he would like equal stress on punctuality.

“I have no problem with those being the first ones addressed but I hope it doesn’t delay other things,” he said. “I believe works on all issues can be implemented at once. “Windows need cleaning because dirty windows degrade the service, but it is minor problem when matched with delayed and unreliable services. “We need to get on to the more substantial things. “We have informed V/Line about many problems and we were assured they would be acted upon quickly.”

Superheroes scale Levine Children's Hospital (CHARLOTTE): Levine Children’s Hospital had some special visitors Tuesday - superheroes! Window washers in the form of Mr. Incredible, Spiderman, Batman, the Hulk, Captain America, and Superman scaled Levine Children’s Hospital Tuesday morning. The window washers are from Joffie. “They choose to do this for us because they know it makes the kids happy and they want to do something extra for them,” said Lauren Moskowitz, a representative for Levine Children’s Hospital.
Patients were able to watch out their windows as the superheroes slowly made their way down, cleaning windows and brightening the days of sick children. The patients, and even adults, were excited to meet real-life superheroes. “We’re so appreciative of Joffie for being so kind and compassionate and going above and beyond to do this for our patients,” Moskowitz said.

SCIENCE: The Fantastical World of Hormones with Professor John Wass (BBC FOUR, 9pm - 10pm) What do window cleaners, slow motion commuters, doughnuts, and relationships have in common? Well, according to this self-explanatory film, they are all tied together with hormones, that biological phenomena which turns children into adults, governs our appetites, and affects our passions. "They are fundamental to making us who we are", explains Dr John Wass.

HM Revenue and Customs has urged small businesses such as cab drivers, window cleaners and hairdressers to make the most of a simpler system of recording income and outgoings throughout the tax year. Small enterprises with annual incomes of £79,000 or less can take advantage of the cash basis of accounting for money that is transferred in and out of the business, as opposed to using the traditional practice based on accruals. HMRC has distributed reminders to all unincorporated businesses, prompting them to consider simplified expenses, using flat rates as opposed to having to calculate actual business expenses.

The cash basis of accounting can be used for costs such as vehicles, business usage of residential space and private use of a business premises as a home. Anita Monteith, technical manager of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) Tax Faculty, believes HMRC is raising the profile of the cash basis system following its relatively low take-up since launch in April 2013. “Very few outside the tax profession know about it, and most of those within will not be using it for many clients because it is not appropriate,” said Monteith. “The only way HMRC will know how many people choose to use the cash basis is by how many tick the box on the 2014 tax return to say they have. “This is likely to raise problems. For example, how many taxpayers will say they have used the cash basis because they have no idea about accruals but were, in effect, previously doing it that way?”

Next of kin sought for unclaimed bodies: Among those buried was George Williams, a free-spirited window-washer known to business owners and residents along the White and Black Horse pikes. The 69-year-old man lived in an abandoned Audubon house and got around by bike. Several friends attended his burial and collected funds for a grave marker. McDonald recalled it was heartwarming to see people acknowledge the value of Williams’ life.
Gloucester County pays roughly $1,500 each to bury the unclaimed in donated plots. The county spends another $500 if land needs to be purchased, according to Jones. Costs at the potter’s field are less. Camden County pays between $50 and $60 for cardboard caskets there, according to county spokesman Ron Tomasello. Burial records are maintained indefinitely — even for the nameless. “Unidentified individuals are buried with grave markers,” Tomasello said. “If they are identified later, then they can be exhumed and moved where the family wishes.”

Looking back at our past brings not only memories of the late Huell Howser, but of his cameraman, Luis Fuerte. Huell and Luis began working together back in 1987, shooting little short fillers called Videologs. Another famous place he did the camera work at, was a "Visiting" episode about window washers. That show brought him to the top of the Tallest Building west of the Rockies, the (then) First Interstate Bank Building. It was a windy day and the window washer had some trouble with the controls, but Luis kept his cool by shooting through the camera lens and not looking down. Huell was not as lucky and he had a few dicey moments hovering 1,000 feet up on that scaffolding. It was reality TV before it became popular. As time went on, Luis got older and carrying that heavy camera around finally got to him. He left the show and shortly thereafter retired from KCET in 2004. Once in a while he turns up at our station. The last time he visited us was the day after Huell passed away. He's grayer and obviously older, but Luis is still Luis, with his good looks and kind personality. It is always a pleasure to get see him and catch up a bit.

Funeral services were held Feb. 21 for James Meehan, known to everyone as Buddy, a lifelong Hoboken resident. He passed away Feb. 19 at Hoboken University Medical Center. Buddy was a retired window cleaner with Union Local 2 at the World Trade Center for 43 years. He was a most fourth degree member of the Hoboken Knights of Columbus Council Number 159 for some 30 years. He also held the post of chairmen of that council for many years.

Villagers urged to be vigilant after “suspicious” men spotted: Residents in Staxton and the surrounding villages are urged to be vigilant after two men were seen acting suspiciously in the area. Police say the men were spotted on Kiln Field in a small white van with a pair of ladders on the rood on Wednesday, February 26, at around 8.15am. A short time later, a villager noticed one of the men climbing a ladder up to a first floor winder of one of the properties on the street, When challenged by the resident, the man claimed he had just started a window cleaning business. She thought the incident suspicious and reported it to the police. The man was described as white, in his 30s, with a medium build and balding head.
Although no criminal intent can be confirmed, officers are asking householders in the Ryedale area to be extra vigilant and look out for this van and its occupants in case they are engaged in criminal activity. North Yorkshire Police are also keen to establish the registration number of the vehicle and identity of the occupants. Anyone with information that could assist the investigation should contact North Yorkshire Police on 101, select option 2, and ask for PC Mark Rees or Ryedale police.

Knifeman is jailed over Cannock street attack - A knife attacker who slashed his victim across the face in a street attack has been jailed for seven-and-a-half years. Window cleaner Shane Gittings stabbed Ben Scott without warning after an exchange of words, Stafford Crown Court heard. The victim was walking in Cannock with his friend Michael Bolton when Gittings pushed between them, said Mr Mark Rees, prosecuting. After an exchange of words, the defendant said to Mr Scott ‘what’s your problem?’ He seemed to be fiddling with something in his hand – a lock knife with a three-inch blade. Gittings took a large swipe with the knife, connecting with the left side of Mr Scott’s face. He was later taken to hospital to have a two centimetre wound stitched. The court heard that at the time of the knifing in Pennine Way, on 17 August last year, Gittings was on bail for a ‘cowardly’ assault on his partner, Kay Frith.