As an aside
whilst getting an hour in every three months or something
Bear in mind that if that's what you'll be doing post PPL, you'll always have an instructor present as you'll likely be out with whoever you're hiring froms currency rules. Depending what you want to get out of it (ie going commercial, or just as an ambition/hobby) you might want to think about what you're going to do with the shiney poo licence. It's an expensive thing to get if you're not going to use it - see the previous post about a large percentage of people getting the ticket then giving up - from my peers on a US intensive course, 3 out of 8 of us still fly - the rest have ditched it - that was 2 years ago.
Groups/Syndicates are a great idea if you have a a few thousand availiable for the buy in.
I joined one immeadiately post PPL and without it, I would'nt be able to fly at all - if I only do 1 hour a month, I'm still significantly under the club hire rate at Aberdeen, and the savings go up from there - flying my group share is 1/3rd of the cost of the club hire!