Thanks kindly for the advice chaps, seems again we have 2 differences of opinion regarding differences training!
UK licencing rules are a complete buggers muddle these days. However, look at it another way - get a checkout and you're being sensible, get an instructor's signature for it and you've wasted nothing. And if I'm wrong and Whopity is right, you're legal anyhow.
My preference is actually a rag and tube 2 stroke (AX3 or similar) as they quite simply look like great fun and amazing value.
They are !
I actually tried Gliding at my local site over the last few weeks, the instructor was good and I got through a good chunk of the solo syllabus very quickly but the unwelcoming and unfriendly attitude of the majority of members was enough to put me off..
Hmmm, we've had a thread or two about that just lately.
G