Tony has been involved with Guild training for several years. Many members will have met Tony whilst attending courses and recognise him as enthusiastic and approachable.
Tony trained with the Guild in 2012 after a 30-year career in the police. He ran TL Chimney Sweep Services in Lincoln for over 12 years, ultimately selling the business on last year.
Tony became a Guild Master Sweep and an on-site trainer. He has also assessed for the Level 2 NVQ in Chimney Sweeping. He has helped many new members with on-site training and invigilated during final assessments. Early this year the board asked Tony to take the lead with the new ‘Assessment Interview’ programme for existing sweeps seeking Guild membership. He has since interviewed a number of prospective members and made some valuable contributions to the fine tuning of this innovative programme.
The board are looking forward to working alongside Tony and applying his considerable skills to the benefit of Guild members. His appointment will be ratified by members at the first opportunity, most likely the next AGM.
Tony said:
I feel extremely honoured to have been asked by the Guild to join the Board of Directors. Since first completing the Guild training and becoming a chimney sweep, I have always been passionate about the sweeping industry and The Guild in particular. To put back something into the industry I decided to complete an assessor’s qualification and have assessed firstly for the Level 2 NVQ in Chimney Sweeping and latterly for The Guild. I also completed a formal teaching qualification after I started to teach on The Guild courses.
I put my business up for sale in 2024 and it sold much quicker than I had anticipated. I was asked if I would continue to teach on The Guild courses and continue as a Guild assessor which I agreed to as I thoroughly enjoy doing both. Since my retirement from sweeping, I have become more involved with re-writing Guild assessment forms and exam papers.
I am working in the agricultural industry now part-time but have got the capacity to become more involved in Guild work and projects and assist the other Directors who are still running their full-time chimney sweeping businesses.
I look forwards to continuing to work with and for The Guild and its members and, by doing so, remain involved in the sweeping industry which has been my life for the past thirteen years.
Albeit I know many Guild members, especially the newer ones that I have taught, I look forwards to meeting more existing members and am happy to try and provide assistance to anyone who requires it.
