Good post mate.
That UFO sighting I saw was when fishing on a pond in Stalybridge next to Cheethams park. IIRC, it was August, still of the night. Nothing happening fishing wise, no bites. I wandered over to my mate Tony fishing about 30 yards away. Had a brew and was having a chat about nothing in particular. All of a sudden from nowhere an intense white orb appeared, hard to judge how far away though, but close enough to notice it kind of swirling around(hard to explain really) on the spot for what seemed 10-20 seconds. after that it shot off into the distance to disappear so fast it was hard to see it shoot off. Myself and Tony stared at each other drop jawed in amazement uttering something like "wtf was that?" 2-3 hours later it came on Piccadilly radio news that several people reported seeing what we saw.
Tbh, Ive not thought about UFOs/aliens much for several years so I'm not obsessed and deluded like some claiming to be abducted bummed etc. But if I get the time, I'll try and research into what I saw back then. I don't mind piss taking banter but I haven't wrote this to be ridiculed as some fucking idiot.
Been too busy with goings on in this mortal coil planet earth since then, work family following 'typical City' fishing etc...
As for religion, nope not me. Not saying there isn't god, but religion has caused too many wars throughout the ages and I'm a pacifist at heart...