>>>>This monstrous query is very hard to read and impossible to understand. Can you break it to managable pieces using either CTE or temp tables?
>>>
>>>Hi Naomi - as I said my TSql is very limited - don't know what CTE is and how would temp tables help ? - thanks
>>
>>Hi Pete
>>
>>if I was attempting to improve the performance of the query I'd first remove all the sub queries in it. See how the basic query performs and how it can be improved . then run the sub queries on their own and do the same for them then put it all back together.
>
>Hi Nicholas, if I remove the sub queries the performance improves dramatically but I don't know of a way to bolt the sub queries back on in an efficient manner ?

Post the query after all subqueries removed and then post subqueries separately - try to put each of them into the temp table and join with these temp tables instead of original subquery.