Liz
Lots of good advice above.
Flying from Barton would seem to be the best place for you and unusually you have a choice of two establishments with good reputations, The LAC has a few votes in the pages above and apart from one person on this forum I have never heard a bad word about them.
The other establishment on the airfield is Manchester Flight Training, I have to declare an interest here in the fact that I have done some business with them.
I like the guys for the honest way they do business and don't cut corners but most of all for the way that invoices are paid within a few days of being presented. In these hard economic times I find them a breath of fresh air and would recomend that you take a trip to Barton and see both establishments before deciding on a place to fly as I am sure that both of them would do a good job in teaching you to fly.