I had been talking about going on a training course for a few years and I finally went down in May 2019 for three days and got my City & Guilds accredited , “Chimney Sweeping and Advanced fault finding” certificate via Rodtech at their Heats Centre training facilities in Hingham , Norfolkshire.

I wasn’t sure how much I would know it being based on English rules & regulations but I was glad to find I had already self taught myself the majority of the written course information via the internet , so it wasn’t too much of a struggle. It was however , voluminous and the class room day was a long one , for all concerned… the trainer too bless her cotton socks. I thought she was very good and confident , so was surprised to hear her admit to a wee bit nervousness.

The second day I found very useful , I found lots of holes in my own knowledge so it was great to fill them in. The trainers being themselves a family of very active & dedicated sweeps , were a great bunch and really decent people. Picking their brains was in itself invaluable , as was being allowed to play with clean stoves (with no fear of breaking them or getting dirty) so I hit an exponential learning curve hahaha. I also met sweeps from England and Estonia , which I think is the first time I can safely say I have set eyes on other ‘real’ chimney sweeps.

The third and final day was the day of reckoning and exam conditions.. yes I did get a wee bit nervous on the practical and I don’t know why ? In the exam , I think I only dropped 2 or 3 questions so it went quite well. The best part for me by far though , was the advanced fault finding. I dropped only one flaw in that part but wow it was a great learning process too… I am by nature quite analytical so I learned a lot in the problem solving. Somethings you must learn by doing and having the competent trainers brains to pick was just a fantastic cherry on top.

All in all , a very useful and worthwhile time spent. I would have most certainly also enjoyed going back to do their Oftec stove installation course too but as they don’t do it anymore (2020) , I will be looking much closer to home for my stove installation training.