I left from Kinloss in 75 as an AEOp. At Nairn Labour Exchange I signed on as a killer of subs - it was trainee brick layer at the oil rig yard at Ardersier or nothing, and we had a house we could not sell for a year and a half. Desperate times called for desperate measures so I asked the CAA about the same ground school course that Mil Pilots did at Oxford (then called the ACP course)and they said yes - at the Chief Ground Instructors discretion. All went OK and then I did the Approved Flying Course (summer of 76 was fabulous weather so I did some times 4 student trips a day - but mostly 3 of about one hour each) From Oxford I went to Woodford, (none pilot job on the AEW) Aberdeen with Loganair, then JEA in Jersey as the boss, then Maersk Air in Copenhagen, Monarch in Luton and finally BA at LHR finishing as P1 for the last 3 years until 2002. Also running my own company from 97 doing weather forecasting for certain motor race teams in F1(which also led to some really great jobs such as the Opera in Verona and Flower farms in Tarlton, S.A.
Basically, I snatched at almost every opportunity, put in some horrendous hours in some really dull and very boring jobs along the way - and made a lot of friends along the same way (and probably a few enemies ). My message is only you can do it and don't expect too much help from anyone.