Thanks Heston and ShyTorque. Very much the spirit in which I had intended to ask.
I have much enjoyed learning to fly at Gloucester with the level of ATC provided there. It has given me much more confidence when talking to controllers elsewhere. My only difficult experience was whilst flying out of Inverness over the summer last year and trying to understand some of the **very** fast talk from the RAF at Lossiemouth and on the ranges. Other places have been easy to deal with.
I always like to be well prepared and to have done my homework on the ground. As you say, it's much better to ask the questions down here first, rather than to make a hash and get in the way of the "big boys"!