I'm in greater Chicago. Sorry that I didn't make it clear that I was outside of Europe. Transportation to England would be kind of expensive.
If you are going to be grinding a 1 meter mirror, and plan to make it farly accurate, then you might need a lot of help. When do you think you will start the mirror? I have never ground any mirror. Most likely I would of most benifit in electrical engineering area. I'm also pretty good in Astronomy itself.