MANCHESTER TOPS THE LEAGUE (AGAIN)


Paul Thrupp reflects on the resounding success of the second Manchester Cleaning Show.


On behalf of the British Cleaning Council, the Federation of Window Cleaners, and the UK’s cleaning and FM industries in general, can I first off say a massive thank you to everyone who attended, exhibited, sponsored and presented at April’s Manchester Cleaning Show, which is co-produced by the BCC.


Over two very busy days we had more visitors attend the show than we did for the inaugural Manchester show in 2016, and we also had more exhibitors and more speakers. This meant the Event City venue in Trafford was a cacophony of conversations, a hubbub of networking and meetings, and a kaleidoscope of demos, sales pitches and seminars.


But beneath the all the shiny kit, new products and industry talks there were also serious issues being discussed and debated.


Stan Atkins, the BCC Chairman, set the tone in his opening remarks when he talked about the issue of the cleaning and FM sectors needing to attract more young people to the profession (which has led the BCC to set up an industry working group led by WAMITAB called Project 35). Stan also highlighted the problem of inconsistent colour coding across the commercial cleaning sector, which again is something else the Council is currently looking at.


The Health & Safety Executive (HSE), in support of the BCC and the cleaning industry in general, also used the show as a platform to highlight a wide range of serious, cleaning-specific issues through a series of excellent presentations. These ranged from preventing simple slips and trips right through to the potentially debilitating impact of musculoskeletal disorders.


Additional speakers, drawn from cleaning businesses and industry associations, discussed the potential impact of Brexit on both employment


28 | REGULAR “It was a great event


for Manchester, a great event for the North of England, and a great


event for the cleaning industry as a whole.”


and trade within the cleaning sector, while others talked about ways to improve a company’s sales, marketing and communications strategies.


However, the show wasn’t just about the challenges, pressures and opportunities our sector faces – and some exhibitors in particular went out of their way to inject some fun and theatre into the Manchester event.


Floorbrite, who didn’t have too far to come as they are based in the same Greater Manchester borough as the venue, created a real party spirit with a ‘cyclone chamber’ ball collecting challenge (you had to be there).


The buzz of fierce yet friendly competition also continued over at the FWC stand where once again I had the personal privilege of adjudicating for the annual Window Cleaning Challenge.


Of course, wherever the Window Cleaning Challenge is you are pretty well guaranteed that Terry ‘The Turbo’ Burrows (the undisputed fastest window cleaner in the world for over 20 years now), will not be very far away, and again Terry’s presence also helped attract a local TV crew down to the show.


“Event City venue in Trafford was a cacophony of conversations, a


hubbub of networking and meetings, and a


kaleidoscope of demos, sales pitches and seminars.”


Meanwhile Jangro, who like Floorbrite are based not far from the venue in Bolton, brought their popular double decker bus to the event complete with roving bus conductors, who issued you tickets to allow you to climb aboard.


And talking of Bolton, the show also saw the ABCD announce that their public-sector Cleaning Team of the Year Award for 2018 was Bolton Council.


So, all-in-all it was a great event for Manchester, a great event for the North of England, and a great event for the cleaning industry as a whole.


Roll on London, and the Excel, next March.


www.britishcleaningcouncil.org twitter.com/TomoCleaning


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