No need to travel. There are some good schools and shops in the Birmingham area who will be able to meet all of your needs, and then some.
What I would advise is:
Decide where you will be doing the bulk of your diving. Will it be abroad in tropical/semi tropical climes or will you be braving the temperate waters in and around the UK?
If you decide on the former, then there are a couple of options open to you. Take a referral course in the UK which would involve completing your academic and pool training at home and then complete your course overseas somewhere warm and exotic.
If the thought of learning to dive in the UK seems good (you live here and so you would be trained and experience to dive in the waters around Britain) then you should look long and hard at what schools you have in the available area. Most would be doing their training right the way through the year so you may want to consider waiting for the weather to improve (along with the water temperature). This would be around early to mid April of next year.
In terms of what equipment you would need, then I would strongly suggest that you wait until you complete your training as you would then have a better idea of the sort of equipment you would need to suit your tastes in diving. If you are hoping to get equipment bought for Christmas then you might look at having a good mask, snorkel and a pair of fins. I would also suggest that you be there to try the mask and fins for comfort and fit. | 
I'm new to diving 
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