No, still no joy.
Tried the following:
Set the system clock (via control center as i couldn't work it out at the command line)
date returned the correct time
sudo hwclock -w seemed to work, sudo hwclock returned the correct time.
Switched off and back on and the wrong date/time displayed
sudo hwclock -w --systohc changes the hwclock time but it went back to the wrong date after a restart.
Cannot figure out what i'm doing wrong. Even tested the battery which is giving out a healthy 3v.