Sturns,
Firstly welcome to PPrune.
To answer your questions ,if you use the search facility you will find the answers to them all but here are my answers(for what they are worth).
1) I am in a similar position to yourself at 34 also made the mad decision to try and make a living out of flying.I am half way through the theory-distance learning.I am with OATS who are very good.Excellent material,excellent support. I was with one of the schools that you mentioned but will not comment further on here.Email me if you want the details,just remember you get what you pay for.
2)I have placed a number of posts recently on this.If you have a CAA ppl with an IMC you get 12 hours exemption of the approved JAA IR course.If you have a JAA ppl with an IMC you get nothing!.It is wrong what you have been told about ppl/IR.AnIR is an IR full stop.Remember as well that as of 30/01/01 a foreign ICAO IR is also worth nothing against the JAA IR approved course.
3) Part time courses.I cannot comment on the schools up north but friends have done the IR part time at Stapleford in Essex with success. The feed back from them is be prepared for at least 60hrs because you forget between lessons and are always catching up at the start of each lesson(five hours more at £300 per hour!!!)
4)Can't really answer this you pass the same skill tests to the same standards who ever you learn with so it should not matter.BUT if you were the chief pilot of the flag carrying national airline who sends all his cadets to oats and they all come out as good pilots and you have two guys for a job.One has been to Oats the other to a 'minor school'.Apart from that nothing between them.Who would you give the job to??. The other point is that at 30+ it is more difficult to get employed anyway maybe oats or Cabair might help a little.But it depends on you as well.If you have been to Oats and passed everything first time but are a complete **** no one is going to employ you. A friend of mine went to a 'minor school' and got his first job at 39 flying jets because of his'life experience'he was told later.It really is a matter for you.
5) ME.Thought about the states..lots cheaper.yes you can do it as part of your cpl or ir but won't you have enough to think about.If you go to oats it is automatically part of your IR.
Good luck hope to see you on a flight deck in the not to distant future
[This message has been edited by The flying gunman (edited 07 March 2001).]