The News

October 2011 In this The Guild travelled to Indianapolis Sweeping Industry on an in August of this year to attend the international level. It is a great hon- issue annual European Federation of our and responsibility and shows Chimney Sweeps (ESCHFOE) con- how far we have come. We can  Letter from the ference. This year the conference now work more closely with ESCH- Chairman was hosted in partnership by the FOE and its members to improve  AGM and American National Chimney Sweep the national and international chim- Guild and the Chimney Safety ney sweeping industry. Exhibition 2012 Institute of America and we would The second announcement was  Barry Chislett like to thank both organisations and that the Guild has been awarded Bruce member all of those that were involved for the honour of hosting the 2013 their hospitality. The conference profile ESCHFOE Technical Meeting. This was a great success and we gained  Martin Tradewell – will see delegates from over 20 dif- valuable technical information. It ferent countries travel to the UK to Member Refresher was also valuable to see how a big find out how we operate in our in- Course event is run. dustry and the advances that have  Bogus Sweeps The Guild has actively supported been made since 2011. ESCHFOE because we believe that  The view from Which just so happens to coincide by working together we can achieve Andalucía with the Guild’s 20th Anniversary. more. More respect for well trained  Chimney Horrors professional chimney sweeps and Everyone involved with Guild has better safety standards for the pub- been working hard to improve work-  Events Diary lic not just in the UK but worldwide. ing standards as well as the service that the Guild provides. At this years meeting there were two announcements in particular We believe that the recognition we that we as a Guild are extremely have received from ESCHFOE

Edited by excited about. highlights that as an organisation we are moving in the right direction. Lawson Wight Firstly, following a vote by all ESCHFOE members, the Guild Produced by have been granted a chair and a vote in the Federation. This means

the Guild now represents the UK

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A letter from the Chairman

The board of the Guild has been place, wow. There is even a chim- very busy of late and in this news- ney sweeping Museum albeit a letter we will point out some of small one. Even though Sascha what we have achieved and what and I went on a private trip to this we have been doing on your be- festival we still, of course, repre- half. sented the UK in the parades along with Ken Linford of NACS. As you probably know the Guild You can see by the pictures that have been guest members of will be posted on our site that it’s a ESCHFOE for several years. This fun place to be and all are wel- year the ESCHFOE group voted come. the Guild of Master Chimney Sweeps as full members and as The board have been working very such the Guild is now the only hard to raise the profile and aware- chimney sweeping organisation ness of the Guild. We are using within the UK whom is able to vote several methods to accomplish at a European level at meetings. this. Primarily we have revamped ESCHFOE affects us chimney the website and undertaken a re- sweeps a great deal and it is good branding programme. Further to this we have attended all of the to be in the loop with new legisla- tion and information. I will not go major shows including Hearth and into this further as Sascha has a Home and The HETAS Road report elsewhere in this letter. Show. Incidentally the Guild was the only chimney sweeping organi- The Santa Maria Maggiore Chim- zation in attendance at these ney Sweeps Festival is one which events. More importantly than any- celebrates the end of the chimney thing the board can do, the mem- climbing boys. Santa Maria Maggi- bers are spreading the word and ore is a small mountain town in Ita- raising industry standards. ly which was so very poor that Keep up the good work and good people were happy to give their sons to chimney sweeps to be- luck for the season. come climbing boys so that they Yours Faithfully could feed the remaining members of their families. This year I attend- ed the festival personally and it was an extravaganza I can honest- ly say that I have never seen as Daniel Hodgson many chimney sweeps in one

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Awards will once AGM and Exhibition 2012 again be up for The dates are booked! grabs: Best Newcomer Friday 22nd and Saturday 23rd June 2012 Best Chimney Horrors Whether you come to see what has happened in the Guild over the year, to meet up and socialise with friends or to take ad- Best Van vantage of the great offers available from the Guild’s Associate Members. This event gets better each year and is not one to be missed— make a note of the dates now! If you have any thoughts on what you want to be featured at next year’s event just let us know. In order to build on the success of this year, we have decided that the event will once again be held at the Waltham Abbey Marriott. We realise there are some members who would like to see the venue move around the country. We have discussed this at length and feel that for next year at least we need to build on the momen- tum generated so far and that the Waltham Abbey venue will work well for us. We will have outgrown this venue after next year and would then look to moving the meeting elsewhere. “For me, as the sweep of our business, the AGM is definitely a date in the diary that is not to be missed. The Guild AGM keeps me in touch and up to date with the way our industry is going forward” Mark Hagon

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Guild Member Profile No. 12 Barry Chislett-Bruce

How long have you been sweep- Was in the Army from school ing chimneys and how did you get What do you find most frustrating started? about the industry? Have been sweeping since 2000, I People not listening to how important watched a chimney sweep, sweep it is regarding every aspect of main- my cottage at a time in my life when taining and sweeping of every type things weren’t so good and I thought of chimney and flue I’d like to have a go at that and it

gave me something to focus on and have not looked back since. What do you like most about be- “[I like] the ing a chimney sweep? flexibility of The flexibility of being able to man- What first attracted you to the being able to age my own time, working in the business? manage my New Forest and most of all seeing It was something I had to prove to how pleased a customer is after the own time, myself I could do and of course job working in the working in and about the beautiful

New Forest New Forest. What do you like least? and most of all In and out of houses in the rain and Is sweeping your full time busi- seeing how people making me Earl Grey Tea!!! ness? If not, what else do you pleased a do? customer is Yes, full time What do you like to do when you are not working? after the job” Sleep, Eat, lay in the bath, enjoy my Do you work alone? If not who Motorcycle. Being with my family helps you and how?

Yes, work alone How long have you been involved

with the Guild and why did you What did you do prior to chimney join? sweeping? I joined in 2004, I ummed and

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Guild Member Profile No. 12 Barry Chislett-Bruce

arghed between the N.A.C.S and the viced every year. The chimney Guild for a couple of years. Being sweep must be listened to and taken the Elite in the Army, I wanted to fol- more seriously than he or she is at low that path and the very first thing this present day. I believe, we, as that appealed to me was the The Guild of Master Chimney name. After meeting Dave Sweeps must keep pushing into the Wooffindin, I knew it was the Guild future, at the same time the work of Of Master Chimney Sweeps for the members must be at its highest me. If it wasn’t for David I wouldn’t level and above at all times be here today and I have the great- “finding a ’s est respect for David and his wife. If you have any particular sweep- size 6 Victorian ing story or anecdote you’d like to Slipper [in the What is your most memorable share, then write it here. chimney]. The sweeping experience? There are many, many stories I Police were Doing a wedding at Highclere Castle could tell. Funny ones, sad ones, and sweeping a cottage on the Isle stupid mistake ones, but for me giv- called and the Of Wight and finding a child’s size 6 en 110% in every home, pub, hotel, cottage was Victorian Slipper. The Police were restaurant, manor house, castle and cordoned off, called and the cottage was cordoned even ship I walk into and hearing the off, nothing else was found. I do be- good remarks customers make and nothing else lieve this slipper in now in a museum the things people write is good was found. I do somewhere. enough for me. believe this slip- Another good thing is meeting up per in now in a How do you view the future of with my friends at the AGM. museum some- chimney sweeping and what do David, Dan, Lawson, Gail and of where.” you think the role of chimney course, Rob, who thinks he’s Orang- sweeps should be in the future? utan after a few beers. (sorry for any In the future the Chimney Sweep -one I may have missed) must be recognised as a trade, which is just as important as, for ex- ample, having your gas boiler ser-

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ESCHFOE 2011

From 17th to 21st of August 2011, the This year’s meeting was especially annual conference of the European successful and important to the Federation of Chimney Sweeps Guild as, after a lot of hard work and (ESCHFOE) took place in Indianapo- effort, the Guild was unanimously lis, USA. voted to represent the chimney sweeping trade in the UK, making us The ESCHFOE has 22 member a full member. countries, which are, Belgium, Croa- tia, Denmark, , , Finland, France, Italy, , This means we now have the full Luxemburg, Netherlands, Norway, backing of Europe and will be pre- Austria, , , Sweden, sent on all matters regarding chim- “...after a lot of , Switzerland, Serbia, Slove- ney sweeping. hard work and nia, Slovakia, Czeck Republic, Hun- gary and 3 guest members USA, effort, the Guild France and . Since 2005 and as Vice Chairman, I was have attended all international meet- The reason for guest members is ings for the Guild. It has been a lot of unanimously that they do not meet all require- work to come as far as we have to ments or they do not represent the voted to make the Guild a main spot on the chimney sweeps for their country. represent the European map, to build up our re- The task of ESCHFOE is to repre- spectable status and to get all official chimney sent the interests of chimney sweeps Chimney Sweeping working in Europe, particularly now as Eu- sweeping trade together hand in hand with us. rope continues to grow even closer in the UK” together, ESCHFOE is gaining more As our Guild has grown in the UK and more importance. and Europe now recognise our or- ganisation we can focus on other work, such as building relationships with the UK government in order to move chimney sweeping even fur- ther forward.

Regards

Sascha Meding

Vice-Chairman

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Odd bits

Bogus Sweeps Refresher Course dates We are receiving a number of re- This year 2011 has seen more new ports that chimney sweeps through- members join and from such a di- out the country are advertising them- verse background, all bringing their selves as a member of our Guild own expertise. when they do not. The Sure Fire centre of excellence is While it is flattering that these individ- installing more flues and appliances uals have recognised the benefits of and making the centre more like a membership of our organisation, it is home environment with regard to unacceptable for them to falsely as- training chimney sweeps: proper sociate themselves with us. room settings, “soot” in flues and bird nests. Each and every one of our members work very hard to achieve a standard For those who have never attended of high quality service and technical the centre, the 4 day course is a real knowledge to earn their membership. boost to your knowledge (please see Martin Tradewell’s report on his re- We have adopted a zero tolerance fresher course). approach to individuals who misrep- resent themselves as having anything The Guild CCTV camera has started to do with the Guild. So far all these to come into its own and is now being individuals have removed branding hired out to qualified members. etc… and some may even join us. If, Next year’s New Member Training however, the usual methods of per- Courses have been booked and we suasion fail we will proceed down the are able to take a maximum of 3 ex- legal route on every occasion. isting members per course for the We need your help to protect our rep- refresher course. utation and organisation from bogus Please book early to avoid disap- members. Keep an eye out in your pointment: area and particularly on the web. Re- member all logos are trademarked. 6th-9th February If you see someone advertising and 16th-19th April you are unsure of their membership 25th-28th June first check the Guild website. If you are still suspicious then please send 20th-23rd August all details into 8th-11th October in- To book your place please contact [email protected]. David Wooffindin on 01226 242357 uk David Wooffindin To combat this we need you! Training Director

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Odd bits Carbon Monoxide Want this as your Awareness registration plate? Carbon monoxide Awareness will be holding their 6th Carbon monoxide Awareness week next month.

Carbon monoxide Awareness week H8 SUT venues. *Monday 21st November. London. . This event is by invi- Well then, you’re in luck! tation only. The Guild has been contacted by the *Tuesday 22nd November. Belfast. person who is looking to sell the reg- Kings Hall Conference Centre. istration plate ‘H8 SUT’. *Wednesday 23rd November. Scot- If you’re interested please contact land Venue to be confirmed. Alison Owen at [email protected] *Thursday 24th November. York- shire. Venue to be confirmed. *Friday 25th November. Liverpool Townhall. Council Cambers. All wel- come. Need to order some * Donations are still being accept- certificates? ed to support this years events. We have recently changed the pro- cess in which you can order certifi- Anyone wishing to support this fast cates. growing week should contact the charity via its website: When ordering certificates you need www.covictim.org or email to speak directly with Lisa who you [email protected] where she will be can contact by emailing your certifi- happy to put you in contact with that cate order to venue\'s lead. Thank you. [email protected]

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Member Refresher Course

I've just had an enjoyable four days at David and Stephan peppering the read- the Sure Fire training centre 'brushing up' ings with their own experiences. Also, on my sweeping knowledge, and I would document J of building regulations was like to tell you all about it in the hope that thoroughly explained (you'll be surprised you may decide to follow in my footsteps. how much you've forgotten!) This is where I thought I got the most benifit from the course. The first question you'll probably want answering is, "why have you gone on this course when you are a qualified sweep The social side cannot be underestimat- with many years experience?" ed. As those of you who attend the AGM's will know, you can learn a lot from

As it was a long 'talking chimneys' over a pint. At the AGM it was mentioned, again, that time ago (1996) these courses are available to existing members at a much reduced rate. There So why should you consider going? It when I did my has been (and continues to be) a great boosts your confidence and enthusiasm, initial training deal of hard work done behind the reassures, refreshes your knowledge, scenes to set these courses up, and I reminds you of things you've forgotten, (thanks Les, Bil would like to thank all those involved who fills in any gaps in you original training, have contributed, without reward, makes you look more professional in the and Bob) and I their time and effort. As it was a long time eyes of your customers and consolidates have done little ago (1996) when I did my initial training relations with other Guild members. (thanks Les, Bil and Bob) and I have There are lots of courses available since, I thought it done little since, I thought it might be a through the Guild, and this has spurred good idea just to check if what I was do- might be a good me on to do more training in the future. ing and saying was 100% correct. So I I fancy a cctv course next! idea just to booked my spot on the course.

check if what I Martin Tradewell The Surefire centre is fantastic. We are was doing and so lucky to have use of such a training The Dale’s Sweep saying was facility. From the moment you walk in you North Yorkshire feel part of something very professional. 100% It's well worth a visit just to see how standards in training have changed. correct. Which brings me on to the actual training. It is a good mixture of book work and practical. The 'book' side comprises of going through the Guild training manual, which was given out at the AGM. Now be honest, how many of you have read it? I'd been meaning to, but had been too busy! This part was made enjoyable by

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The view from Andalucía

Where does all the time go? ing to be sweep and secretary and gradually losing my mind. In the As they say. “When problems assail end, it got so bad that I realized we you, you should always endeavor to were going to have to do something keep a calm and collected mind.” about it. However, when you are up to your backside in alligators, it’s sometimes Telephoning, for example sounds easy to forget that your original in- pretty simple. You have 20 people tention was to drain the swamp. to call, so each call takes a couple of minutes…..No. For starters, most “As I did more So it is with the way you allocate people will be polite, some will be chimneys in a day, your time. Those of you who started pleasant, but in that 20 there will be so I had less time at up your own business instead of for sure someone who has had a the end of the day to buying an established one will prob- bad day, and who will be only too deal with more and ably recognize some if not all of this. happy to take it all out on you. That more paper and I started up from nothing, and in the can really knock the guts out of you telephone calls. beginning, on days I had work and make the whole process a lot (which weren’t many to begin with) I less pleasant. Plus, 20 calls aren’t 20 calls. That’s because if you are “It wasn’t so bad in would trundle off, sweep a couple of lucky, half of them will be answering the quiet season, chimneys, come home, shower, and the phone. You’ll have to try later for but come the busy then do the paperwork and deal with the other half, and when you do, only season, I would be all the messages left. half will be in, and so on, so that 20 flying round like a No great problem, and so it went on. calls usually means 40 calls. mad thing trying to Then of course in the second year be sweep and things started to pick up, and with Something had to be done. secretary and that, my time started to be more in gradually losing my demand. As I did more chimneys in The first improvement was starting to mind” a day, so I had less time at the end run a proper database, and organiz- of the day to deal with more and ing the work more professionally, more paper and telephone calls. using incentives to try and shift It wasn’t so bad in the quiet season, some of the work over onto the qui- but come the busy season, I would eter summer period. This gradually be flying round like a mad thing try- had the desired effect.

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The view from Andalucía Continued…..

When we started using it, the work before too long we discovered that load was very high in the Septem- it just didn’t suit. So we upgraded, ber to December sector, with the asking all the questions that we remaining 8 months being very de- could think of, but again, because void of work. A half full week in no-one was targeting us as a group, summer used to be regarded as there were compromises. We had very good indeed, and as for the to re-enter all the data that we had first half, well, we used to be scrap- so painstakingly entered, only this ing the barrel well before summer time we entered a lot more fields “Gradually things kicked in. and data as we felt this was need- improved, July ed. Gradually things improved, July and and August fat- August fattened up very nicely, and This data base lasted a whole lot tened up very while June and May are seemingly longer, but again the time came nicely, and while irredeemable, the first 4 months when we needed to replace it, and June and May are have shown a marked improve- this time we realized that one of the ment. things we needed was to buy a da- seemingly Of course all this was not without tabase that had this function in par- irredeemable, the problems. At this point, the idea of ticular. Trouble was, because the first 4 months sweeps having computers and da- second data base had so many have shown a tabases wasn’t really in the public problems, we had to go thru the consciousness, and we had awful miserable process of entering eve- marked improve- problems tring to find a database rything manually all over again, with ment” that would serve our needs. They the additional strain that now there say that if you want to ask the cor- was ten times the amount of data to rect questions, first of all you need add. to know the answer, and this was shown time and time again in our Naturally history repeated itself, but search for an ideal database. finally we had arrived at the point where the redundant database was The first one we tried was from a compatible/kind enough for us to be firm like PC World or one such, and able to translate across all the data

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The view from Andalucía Continued…..

without either losing or scrambling it worked reasonably well as she had all, so that the last changeover was to be at home anyway looking after without doubt the easiest of all. the three children that we had. Had that not been the case, then Now of course you can get data- the loss of her income would have bases that are more tailored to us been more significant to us. as a profession, so sweeps today can start off from the point that it The huge problem though that any took us many years and a whole lot new sweep will have is how, when

of hard work to get to. and if they should go down this route, as it is potentially a very risky All of this though caused more alli- one. Will there be enough work gators to quit the swamp, as I dis- coming online fast enough to justify covered that it also meant that the that shift? Get it wrong and that number of months where I didn’t sweep could be looking at financial have enough time had also in- disaster. creased. The ideal solution would be to get a Mercifully, Jan had by now quit her part timer in to do work piecemeal, job as she was pregnant and was but that means taking on someone able to take over as a sort of full with all the potential risk and prob- time secretary, and at long last, I lems. Will they be honest? Will could come home at the end of the they do the work properly? Will you day without having to face a huge be liable for paying them a stamp, stack of work, even if it did mean insurance and all that which again that we were now down a single could wipe out all the gains that this source of income. move might garner?

The hope of course was that now I In short, a potentially sticky prob- was freed to sweep more, we could lem. start to earn enough to compensate for the loss of her wages. That

14 Customer Database

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Chimney Horrors

Luckily these water pipes were no longer in use.

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Events Diary

3rd October October 2011 October newsletter publica- tion Mo Tue We Thu Fri Sat Sun 3rd October 1 2 Board Meeting 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10th—13th October New Sweeps Training 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Programme 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 11th & 13th October Refresher days for members 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 24th October 31 CCTV course

November 2011 1st November Mo Tue We Thu Fri Sat Sun Working at Heights course 1 2 3 4 5 6 2nd November SF1 Open Fire Course 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 3rd November 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Flexible Flue Lining Course 4th November 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 Stove Installation Course 28 29 30 21st-25th November Carbon Monoxide Awareness Week

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Events Diary

December 2011 5th December Board Meeting Mo Tue We Thu Fri Sat Sun 12th-14th December H003 training course 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

Dates for your diary

Hearth and Home Exhibition 2012 10th-12th June AGM and Exhibition 2012 22nd—23rd June

Board Meetings 5th December

If any member has an item they wish raised at a board meeting, please con- tact a Board member or email [email protected]

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