I've flown a couple of the Raven variants, and in fact own one at the moment (albeit much older and with a rather smaller engine than the 912).
I'd say that the EclipseR 912 is a decent well built machine, with a wing which can certainly milk the power of an 80hp engine better than most - you can probably get a 60-65kn cruise out of it. One of the other joys of the Raven wing is it's ability to shrug off turbulence whilst giving quite light handling (I can't offhand think of any other wing that gives that combination). Pricewise it's slightly cheaper than anything else giving the same performance, but if you need them spares are a bit more - pretty much evens out.
The (Medway) school at Stoke seems well organised when I've been down there, with a decent number of aircraft and instructors. It is full of people with remarkably strong personalities, but likeable and competent once you've seen through that. The runway is - well, interesting - and if you're an experienced truckie it'll probably at first sight leave you wishing for the relatively easy approach at Kai-Tak. But, it's basically safe, more than long enough, and apart from the occasional flood over the sea wall which closes it a couple of weeks a year, permanently open. It is in a thoroughly pleasant part of the country to fly around, particularly low-and-slow.
As a truckie pilot, I guarantee that your first 6-12 hours on flexwings will seem utterly unnatural and occasionally frightening, and because of the need to unlearn lots of your instinctive reactions you may take longer to go solo than some ab-initio students. Don't take that personally, and persevere, they are tremendous fun and actually not bad touring machines so long as you don't mind travelling slowly and light.
P