LC holds his courses at the Findon Manor - a fairly small privately run hotel in the village of Findon, about 5 miles north of Worthing, West Sussex. Run by Mike and Jan, the hotel has awards for its restaurant, can provide very comfortable accommodation, and has a good real-ale bar. As the residential bedrooms are named after local racehorses, one gathers perhaps the risks associated with share dealings are appreciated by by the owners, and as Mike was absent for the weekend leaving Jan and her very pleasant staff to look after things, perhaps Mike has experience of the sort of people LC attracts for his course....
I'd decided to make a weekend of it, so took my Wife to stay Friday and Saturday nights - the weekend break price was £200 for us including bed, breakfast and dinner, (half board) and we clocked up some extras on two bottles of house wine, the bar, and surcharges on the inclusive dinner menu allowances.
Our room had a four-poster bed, and en-suite bathroom, broadly decorated in "Laura Ashley" style. Fresh, clean, and definitely romantic.
There is at least one bedroom available with a Jacuzzi, but, allegedly, some honeymooners had bagged it first. (I dunno, if you are already so good at it that you are interested in experimenting with synchronised orgasting in a Jacuzzi when you are only just on your honeymoon, that doesn't leave many options left to revitalise the physical side of your relationship when you are approaching your 25th Wedding Anniversary. But, I digress.)
The plan was that my Wife would go shopping whilst I learned about wiggly lines, but the weather was foul so she took a taxi to the nearby "Body Shop" factory, and went on their tour. She reported it was very interesting, opportunities to sample, and to buy!, and well worth the visit. Weather remaining very wet, she came back so we spent the money I saved on the non-shopping on other things...... So, if you want to make an event of it, there is lots for your partner to do locally whilst LC implants knowledge. The dinner menu is fixed price at £20 per head, with choices of about 8 starters, 8 main courses and 6 puds. (Sorry, Billy Whizz, no custard! And it is not the place to ask for an extra portion of chips, either.) A couple of dishes may attract a £2 or so surcharge. The service and food was excellent, candle-lit, and the sauces and flavours were super. With around 35 covers, I can quite see the reputation it has gained. Email Mike or Jan for rates and more details. I thoroughly recommend it for a romantic break in its own right.
Their conference room easily holds the 10 - 12 LC has on his course, and was set up the night before. In the morning on arrival, we all had coffee in the front lounge. At lunchtime, a lovely hot and cold buffet was provided - filled rolls and all the conventional stuff , but a particularly pleasant surprise for Chinese food fans - a wide selection of prawn toasts and pastries, meat and veggie spring rolls, sausage rolls, - something for every taste. In the afternoon, tea and coffee were provided, with a choice of fruit and chocolate cakes. All ready and served just when wanted. OK, you expect this from a place doing conferences, but nice to know they deliver.
Overall, I felt the hotel bill represented excellent value for money
. Allowing at least £30 per person per day for the quality of the
breakfast and dinner meant the four-poster only cost £10 for my side
of it, and £10 for my Wife's side. I am able to confirm her
side was just as comfy as mine :-)
LC started at 0958 introducing himself and the day's plan. The morning was to cover basic chart patterns, and the afternoon would cover moving averages and more technical points. We all introduced ourselves and at 1012 the work started.
LC prepared and distributed a bound booklet containing the main points he would be making, with space for you to add your own notes alongside. At appropriate places, charts were inserted, marked with the patterns and points he referred to for forming his opinions. Most of the material was prepared approximately a week beforehand, but his choice of charts was fairly random. VDO and CLN were not included. :-( or :-) depending on your viewpoint.
LC worried me a bit by saying his interests and work were more in futures and currencies than in FTSE and small caps, but the essence of TA (Technical Analysis) is in the interpretation of the historical data almost irrespective of what it is you are dating, er sorry, charting!
Using a flip chart to emphasise points and show other examples, he worked through his manual, giving comprehensive replies whenever questions were raised.
There were ten of us, from quite a wide variety of backgrounds, and rightly or wrongly I gathered that most of my fellow attendees had rather more long term investment policies than myself. The customary desire to make enough to retire by age 50 was mentioned a few times, although quite reasonably, people did not volunteer too much about their personal trades.
At coffee time I heard a few muted mutterings about VDO and CLN.
I understood from LC I was the sole ESI BB representative, there were a few attendees from HS, and one local chap from Findon Village attended - purely out of interest at what the courses were all about!
LC was a good speaker. His voice carried, and when using the flip chart he moved frequently so as not to block the view of the people at the far end of the oblong table we sat around.
Having made it clear his course covered basics, and no preliminary reading was required, he dealt with the basics. Just to make sure we did not fall asleep (this was before the bar opened at lunchtime) he threw in a bit of interesting info about how the earliest charting theory went back to the Japanese Rice Traders in the 1600's, then the transportation background to Dow's theories of a century ago. The only true disappointment I felt was that having mentioned the "Abandoned Baby" pattern in Japanese Candlesticks, he said he was not going to cover it on the course. I assume this is the theory he uses to make all his money himself, and am therefore going to buy the book!
After the lunch break, LC resumed and addressed examples of the theory of balancing risk and reward. Further, use of charts to assist in determining an investment policy. He also covered the application of stop losses.
I suggest his course and fee would be justified to any "amateur" trader or investor even if they had no particular interest in TA, because LC covered a number of associated points which made me think my investments decisions might have been much better if only I had considered such points at the time.
He closed with mentioning some useful further reading, and taking questions.
It is not proper for me to suggest critical review of either the course or the facilities, as these would need to be done objectively by appropriate experts.
Subjectively, I comment on whether I feel it was all value for money, and I definitely consider it was. Lasting from 10am to 4.30pm means that you can travel quite a distance and incur only the cost of the course fee and your fares or petrol. If you are inclined, the weekend break for you and your partner is an excellent package given the tuition, the local facilities and the cuisine and accommodation compared with a comparable "theme" weekend at a national chain hotel.
The course is clearly marketed as an Introduction. If someone with a bit of TA knowledge attended, I can see they might feel they had not learned anything new. But, LC made enough associated and relevant points linking TA as a tool to assist in the overall assessment of a share trading activity, to suggest it would have to be someone who was very experienced overall to go away confident he knew it all already.
For what the course sets out to do, and at broadly its present price and content, I thoroughly recommend it. The remaining two courses in 1998 are, I understand, nearly full, and no doubt LC will post details for next year on his site
My thanks to LC for the Course.
And to Jan, Angus (the bar and restaurant manager) and the staff at The Findon Manor Hotel for providing a good conference venue, and equally good value-for-money accommodation if you travel a distance or merely want a weekend break.
I have received no discounts or preferential treatment for submitting this opinion, which is purely my own subjective comment.
24/10/98