Group

The Guild of Master Chimney Sweeps is the UK’s premier trade association for professional chimney sweeps. It was established over 25 years ago with training, standards, and member co-operation at its heart.

 

The Guild’s purpose

All members of The Guild are well-trained, with many being experts. The purpose of The Guild of Master Chimney Sweeps is to promote safety and the efficient use of fires and fuels.

The Guild ensures robust training, mentoring and assessment standards for new sweeps. Mandatory refresher courses help experienced members keep up to date in a rapidly changing industry.

 

The benefits for consumers

As a result, consumers can rely on a Guild sweep to clean their chimney correctly. Guild sweeps will also provide advice on correct fuel and appliance use, any repairs needed, and general safety. This guidance improves safe use, reduces pollution, saves money and sometimes even saves lives!

 

The Guild works together as a co-operative community of members. Individual sweeps can draw on a wealth of collective knowledge, to help them better assist customers with any specific questions or unusual problems. Search for your local Guild sweep.

 

 

The benefits for Guild members

Guild members receive first-rate services via innovative training programmes and educational initiatives, widely acknowledged to be the best in the industry. These services include:

 

  • technical support
  • prominent advertising
  • regional meetings
  • an annual trade exhibition
  • an online forum
  • regular newsletters

 

The Guild serves as a leading voice within the industry, engaging with many other groups. It encourages the professional development of every member, helping their businesses to succeed.

 

The Guild event

What an amazing weekend! This year, the event was held at The Chesford Grange Hotel in Warwick.

 

The venue and central location were excellent and encouraged sweeps from all over the UK to attend. This year’s event kicked off with an exhibition of well over 30 trade exhibitors ranging from rod manufacturers to training course providers and equipment testers. There were serious deals to be had and it was great to meet suppliers face to face and be able to experience handling the equipment first-hand.

 

The evening offered a chance to catch up with old friends and a great opportunity to make new ones. This year, a meal was organised at a local Indian restaurant and needless to say it was fully booked that night. The event, finally, transferred back to the hotel and continued into the early hours.

 

Saturday’s exhibition

 

 

Saturday began early, with the exhibition and free seminars continuing throughout the day.

 

Midday was the time of the much-anticipated ‘Van of the Year’ competition, which SweepSmart proudly won in 2014. We had high hopes for this year, but we were too busy ‘talking chimneys’ and missed the announcement.

 

The AGM

The AGM took place at 3.30pm. This was the 9th AGM we went to, and it was by far the best attended. There was a really encouraging atmosphere with a lot of excitement for what the future would bring.

 

The Guild has been doing a brilliant job, so there was a strong, positive feeling amongst members, reflecting just how well they all felt their needs were being represented.

 

The Gala dinner

 

 

You would have thought that the exhibition and AGM would be enough, but no – it was now time for the finale: The Gala dinner. The dinner, as with the whole weekend (other than the AGM) was open to everyone from the industry, and that sense of welcoming made for a fantastic atmosphere.

 

When there’s such a great atmosphere, the night never ends early. The hotel bar was still full at 4am and a few blurry-eyed sweeps were still there until the lights were turned off at 5.30am.

 

Sunday morning was checkout time and a chance to say goodbyes. Well, until next year. We’re full of anticipation and can’t wait!

 

Thank you to everyone involved – this truly was the best one yet!