jelly :
I'll have a word with the instructor I flew with on the day - he's someone I count as a true professional, and I don't think he'd put me (or him) in a dodgy position. Once I have his reasoning I'll re-post.
As for the event itself, it was the end of an hour of VRS. Why the CAA insists on an hour of VRS demos as part of the modular course, I don't know - do it three or four times, it takes all of 30 minutes. The "low-level" was at least 800', if not higher, started into wind, over the airfield, and the surprise was the nose-down attitude I used to recover as promptly as possible. If I ever get into VRS low-level, I'd like to think my recovery actions would be instinctive if I let it get that far !
One last thing - I'm chuffed we seem to agree on most things. I reckon that's pure luck - at my experience level I'm only too willing to let other people tell me how not to kill myself.