Thanks for the replies.
With regards to Queens, they have a gliding club:
Homepage
Would it be advantageous to have decent gliding experience as far as seeking employment with an airline is concerned?
And from the aerospace department (same building as mechanical) they say that students have the option to undergo flight training. Pretty vague but I'l have to find out a bit more on that.
But yes as it stands the plan is to get the M.E degree, get some uni gliding in and get my PPL locally:
PPL Training
then go into a modular course full time with the confidence and safety net of my degree.
I've yet to decide on an FTO but that's why I'm here.
The reading continues.