[Popeye (Bert)]

Oh! Simon, please be careful! I have had three Meade scopes and still have the LX90 and loved all of them. There used to be a shop in Perth that was prevented from selling Meade once and the staff just 'bagged' the company - all the time. If this is still going on I would run a mile from them.
PLEASE make contact with ASWA (they should still be in the phone book or Google ASWA and find their site.) Go to one of their meetings and speak to the great folk there and tell them what you have experienced. I would bet that you would be told what I cannot tell you in this forum for fear of 'repercussions.'
I went to the store that has since closed down for a course like you are suggesting and found it to be a waste of time and money. As a professional trainer I was appalled at the lack of preparation, poor presentation, finding that the 'notes' were simply pages photocopied (illegally) from reference books - (so much for copyright and the courtesy of acknowledging the source,) and that the final night was to be a viewing night but it was on a full moon with the moon at perigee (meaning closest to Earth!) so the sky was washed-out! ASWA runs better courses than that for free to members.
If you can hang out until October you can attend the weekend camp with ASWA where you go to a dark sky site (Dryandra?) and there will be at least 16 - 20 telescopes being used and you will be welcomed to look through them.
Be careful, please!!!
Cheers!
Bert