Thanks for the tips Andy.
That was my 5th visit to the field with it, so probably about 40 mins actually on the sticks, I can see progress every time I go up, the first time was hilarious - every time I tried to turn it'd just plummet, being a total noob to flying it's a great example of theory vs reality. As I say I'm getting there, need to work on flying rectangles as opposed to ellipses, weirdly I find flying a figure of eight easier than I can a rectangle, but the A test wants rectangles not ellipses and the club don't let you fly on your own without an A.
I'm in no hurry with it and the club seems ok, never been a 'club person' so this was a bit of a worry, but the folks seem ok and the set-up is good - we've got two strips, one of which is shared with Lancs Aero Club so it's uber long along with a couple of portacabins for brewing / charging/ hiding from the rain. I've been using Picasim on the PC with a dongle and can get that to land about half the time.
You are doing the right thing by learning with a club - model aeroplanes can be deadly if they get away from you, and flying with others in a club will instil strip and circuit discipline - and you'll enjoy the challenge of improving too. And the round of applause you'll get from a greased landing will be very heart-warming!
By now you'll have twigged bank and yank to keep the altitude constant in a turn, and hopefully the reversal of the aileron stick when flying towards you. If you have difficulty in maintaining level flight have a look at exponential on the elevator stick - you can de-sensitise the control around the mid point so it makes it less sensitive in straight and level.
Landing is not that hard - don't fly too slowly or you'll end up with a stall or a hard landing as it drops suddenly. It's a bit counter-intuitive and I used to fly too slowly all the time. Fly in a bit faster and you'll have more control (or. conversely, smaller bits to pick up...…)
It's all about throttle (you may need to keep blipping it to bring it home) and the flare near the ground with the elevator - that expo can help here. As the ground effect kicks in you need less elevator, so de-sensitising the elevator can help. If you fly too slowly, you lose elevator authority.
There's no better sensation than a greased landing - on the odd occasions I manage it it gives me a real buzz.
And learn to land in both directions!
Keep going - loads to learn, and you'll soon get your A. No stopping you then! Which club are you with?