I have been asked to put myself on a 3 day course but have no idea as to the quality of different providers. Can anyone recommend a training provider for such course, ideally in Manchester area?

Also, are they generic courses, or are they tailored toward the kind of work you will be involved in, or is this just something that will be discussed and covered in the course?

Any advice or suggestions would be great

CDM covers a wide range and although a generic course may cover your needs, it really depends on what your job role is.
If you are a designer, then there is some good documentation available to guide your through the process whilst developing a project.
If you are more site based than it is more of risk assessment and form filling.
If your the client, you should not be doing anything at all other than appointing a independent CDM coordinator…

I would be a site based independant CDM coordinator for landfill construction/capping works if that helps

See if you can get a copy of this;

Managing health and safety in construction

The areas which will concern you are ACOP regs 9 onwards really, although it is good to know how the designers side of the risk analysis works so you can screw us if we mess up!

Another useful couple of books are the Ciria guides (C662 & C663)