Alex,
the AIC says "turn left onto base leg after the railway, then onto final keeping south of Kemble village", but of course if aircraft infront of you have had to extend downwind to fit in with other traffic, then you need to follow them and fit in, not turn base at the earliest opportunity and cut in to traffic on final, no wonder they complained. The circuit you flew would have been correct if no one else was there, but when there is a lot of traffic, you are going to have to extend.(hopefully not as far as south cernay!)
Granted they should have been flying over Kemble village and should have been on an offset final to the south.
It is unfortunate that some people didnt follow the AIC for example as someone reported effectivly joining final from the north. Luckily most people did follow it more or less correctly and it worked well.
I didnt notice any permit aircraft climbing off into the clouds, but I guess I wasnt watching all day.Worst I saw was the Bonanza appearing out of the clouds at 300ft (probably less) over the field heading north on Friday night, then proceeding with a low level orbit before eventually getting to the runway.
Agree with Mike that the AIC needs to go on a diet!