What a result! – over 150 Guild Members throughout the country gave up some of their free time to attend one of the 15 Regional Meetings organised by Regional Officers during the month of May. We think this turn out speaks volumes about the enthusiasm, professionalism and organisation of Guild members. Well done to all who could attend.
There was a guideline agenda from the Guild board but it was open ended and gave a good starting point for everyone to talk about up to date topics and burning issues within the sweeping industry.
The first topic was the newly introduced Refresher Courses. After 5 years of being a Guild Member you will need to book yourself on to a one-day Refresher Course. This course will bring you up to date with all legislation, new techniques and updates from the industry. To keep travelling times to a minimum the course will be held in several locations all over the UK. The HETAS Refresher Course does not count as a Guild refresher course, they are very different. There have been 3 courses run so far and they are being very well received. If you have suggestions for topics covered on the refresher course, the training committee are happy to hear your suggestions. The board and trainers know that our most experienced sweeps will be attending this course. They have worked hard to ensure you leave with new information that you can immediately apply to improve your work and your business. There are also some more entertaining sections.
Members Survey – “The Big Questions”Idea came up as a really good idea and was well received by all of you. Lots of questions where floating around the rooms and gave us something to work with for our first survey. The question all of you asked was about the postcode search facility on the Find a Sweep Website and the option to increase our Guild Shop to have better rates from suppliers and even join up with an insurance company to get preferential rates. We are exploring options and will keep you updated.
GDPR–The general understanding is that the sweeping certificate needs to be reviewed and updated, including a tick box for the customer to give their consent for data to be retained for specific purposes. Pending this review a consent section has been added on all newly ordered certificates.
Last but not least, a big thank you from the Guild to the organisers of those meetings but the same gratitude goes out to all the fellow sweeps who could attend. We are only as good as our weakest link and only through communication, education and open minds can we achieve greater goals together.
