Wigan chimney sweep business owner heading to USA for international talk

A Wigan chimney sweep is set to share his expertise with an international audience next month.

David Sudworth, founder of Mr Soot Chimney Sweep, will travel to Colorado to address a two-day conference from June 11-12.

The 2024 Midtown Chimney Sweeps Convention will see sweeps from right across the USA converge on Denver for a series of talks.

David, 44, whose company has a HETAS approved training centre on Great George Street, off Wallgate, will lead a presentation on training, recruitment and business.

The following day, his industry colleague Josh Firkins, of London-based H Firkins & Sons, will share his expertise of chimney sweeping and flue integrity testing.

They were invited to Denver by Byron Schramm, owner and founder of Midtown Chimney Sweep franchise.

David, a former Byrchall High and Wigan college student, explained: “Byron visited our training centre in Wigan before Christmas. During his visit, I introduced him to Josh, who I have personally learnt a lot from, and he helped give Byron a different perspective on UK sweeping.

"Byron was bowled over with the warm welcome he received in the UK, and wanted us to go to America to teach sweeps out there all about our systems and processes.

“I’ve never visited America so it will be fascinating on a number of levels.

“As I understand it, US sweeps do a lot more inspection work than we do here in the UK, as their homes are timber-framed.

"However, in recent years, we in the UK are doing an increasing amount of inspections as homeowners become more educated on the advantages of thorough checks of their flue systems.

“While in the US, we also hope to get a bit of sightseeing done as we’ll be in the Rocky Mountains area. It’s certainly the trip of a lifetime.”