Bleuravin, NCT classes are good and very sociable, so go for them and pay, if they have a space (they fill up quickly). NHS ones are supposed to be less good as a rule, but they are free.
With midwives, in some places there is good continuity of care and in others you see too many different people, particuularly if you are booked into a hospital ante-natal clinic. A good way to do things is to see if you can have some of your appointments with the community midwife and some with the GP perhaps, avoiding the hospital. Then you are dealing with people who know you.
If a midwife knows you and is near at the time of the birth, she will try to deliver your baby, but more often than not you get a random midwife who is free on the day. Most of them are very good, so this doesn't matter. If you have written out a birth plan they will try to accommodate this. Sometimes they have to look after more than one labouring woman at once, which means you will be very reliant on a partner to support you. If this bothers you at all, it's possible with a bit of forward planning to hire an independent midwife (£3000ish including all ante-natal and post-natal care) or a doula (£750ish) to help you out. You can also hire these people just to do postnatal visits if you need extra support then.
A really worthwhile alternative in the UK is to have your ante-natal visits and your birth at home. That gives you a lot more continuity of care and two dedicated midwives on the day for the whole labour.
By the way, emergency care over here is absolutely first class and you will be very well looked after indeed if anything goes badly wrong.
Hope that helps.