My name is David Wilson and I live in the village of Poringland, a few miles south east of Norwich.

For 30 years, I worked for a local electronic manufacturing company.

I completed a 5-year apprenticeship and qualified as a Multi-skilled Maintenance Engineer, before going on to become a Production/Design Engineer.

Latterly, I was involved in successfully relocating the Company’s manufacturing facility to China.

Then choosing to remain in the UK, I decided that I would like to change my career path and a cottage holiday to the lovely Peak District in Derbyshire was the place where a seed was sown for me to become a ‘Chimney Sweep’. Having lit the small wood burner in the said cottage, I sat watching the flames and enjoying the heat coming off it. I found it quite hypnotic. It dawned on me that I wanted to find out much more about these ‘simple’ enchanting pieces of engineering and find out exactly how they worked.

And so, here I am. . .