Window cleaner marks 49 years cleaning Cornish town's windows

A window cleaner has been marking 49 years since he started cleaning windows in his home town.

Ralph Elcox, 73, began his rounds in Camborne in Cornwall aged 24 and has been "climbing ladders ever since".

He put his longevity and strong customer base down to being "reliable and good value".

"I've seen a few sights through the windows," he said. "I won't say what I've seen is rude but I've caught people unawares, put it that way."

Mr Elcox said the biggest change he had seen over the years was the amount of traffic on the roads.

"One of my original streets was Trelawney Road in Camborne - a residential street - and if you saw half a dozen cars from the top of the ladder on your afternoon round, that was quite a few," he said.

"But there are cars all the time now. It's completely changed."

Mr Elcox said one part of the job he always found amusing was helping people who had locked themselves out of their house.

"I used to get in through the top window, go downstairs and open the front door," he said.

"There was also one time I was cleaning windows and a woman from down the road came waddling up, asking if I could take her to hospital.

"There were no mobile phones or anything back then, so I was the only one there to help.

"I dropped her off and she had a baby.

"I think the baby is nearly 40 now but I still see her around the town."

In the past 10 years, Mr Elcox has stopped doing his domestic rounds and concentrated on commercial buildings in the town.

"Lots of people start window cleaning and think they're going to make a fortune by charging a fortune - I've seen plenty come and go," he said.

"I'm hoping to keep going to mark my 50th anniversary but winter is the main bugbear for window cleaning.

"If I get through that, I'll probably carry on until next June."