Thames radar is great,although i would use 132.7 to call them? Manchester is THE worst!Even if you call them 20 miles out and are perfectly placed to fly at 90 deg to the upwind end of THEIR(they certainly think it is their's)runway,you allways get told to use the low level corridor to Barton,thereby using up another 15 minutes of valuable air time! Generally speaking though i find most radar stations are as helpfull as their workload will allow.
Safe Flying and allways allow for the long route so the clearance will be a nice surprise.