Welcome to the forum Squiz. As already mentioned, we have quite a large member base from in and around the Newcastle area, so if you're ever looking for someone to go detecting with you shouldn't have too much trouble finding a willing participant.
If you need any help learning the Ace 250 please don't hesitate to throw out a few questions on the forum, we've got plenty of Garrett users on-board who I'm sure would be more than happy to give a few pointers.
Cheers,
Nugget