Lister,
Good to hear you are now cubbing. My VP1 (RIP) came with two chocks on a piece of rope. Before starting, the chocks were placed in front of the wheels and the ropes fed to the cockpit. That way you could remove them once you were safely seated in the cockpit with the engine running, I always thought this a good idea.
Although, for the VP1 this might not have been needed. A blade of grass performed the same function as a chock...it was marginally powered as Stik will tell you.
We used to prop from the front...it still was a bugger to start..swearing a lot seemed to help.
On the Laser I have fitted electonic ignition instead of one magneto. Wow, what a change, no hot start problems at all. The spark will spark for 1/2 inch even moving the prop very slowly.