As I drive around the area I am constantly drawn to looking at chimneys, it is I suppose an occupational hazard of being a chimney sweep! However, it does occasionally have some happy consequences; for example, just the other day I saw these ‘mad March hares’ boxing on a thatched roof in Stoke by Clare which caused me to smile and think of all the other signs of spring that are now fast emerging all around us. It then struck me that if these hares are made of straw, does that make them thatch animals, or ‘thatchamals’ for short? I know one thing for sure I will now be on the lookout for more thatchamals whilst on my travels.

Many people mistakenly believe that when their Aga or Rayburn are serviced, the servicing engineer sweeps the chimney/flue; this is not the case. This happened to me just the other day, the customer believed that her Aga flue had been swept regularly when she had the appliance serviced each year. So it turned out that it had not actually been swept for a very long time. Consequently the flue was very dirty, but was easily swept using the small viper and conventional brush. Another satisfied customer.