Huge demand for groups in the East of England!??
Really!?? I've never known there to be huge demand for groups in Norfolk.
Whenever I've been to various flying clubs in Norfolk, there are always one or two adverts for shares on the notice boards that have been there for months, if not years.
I have never known demand to outstrip supply as shares are always notoriously hard to sell. There may not be that many groups around relatively speaking, but its always been and still is a buyers market when it comes to shares.
Fitting the particular groups criteria for acceptance, now that's a different matter altogether. And as already pointed out, hour builders quite often 'need not apply!'