Cleaning sash windows

[babyonboard]

Any ideas? We are on the 1st and 2nd floor of our building, with large sash windows and window cleaners are not insured to clean the outsides of them for us (too high), so I always struggle with jiggling them up and down, reaching outside, and cleaning what I can, but it never quite works.
Is there a good extendable window cleaner or such I can get that will do the job? or just any tips, as it is such a long job and they never come our properly clean anyway.
Thanks.

We too have Sash windows and an old, tall house. However our window cleaners have just switched to what look like sweeping brushes on poles and use them from the street (same insurance issues I gather.) I imagine your window cleaners might do the same. BUT, although the brushes now reach, they're very rough on the old frames and I'm going to ask him to stop using them. I reckon I'll just have to do what you do, or go up myself!

Lakeland sells a window cleaning system called Total Reach which might be long enough for you to reach the windows, the various bits are on their website (saw info on this in Aggies column in the Times recently).