Just to finish this thread off and to say thanks for all the contributions, both funny and useful!
I installed 16Gb Ram from Crucial, which made a small difference, maybe more than I realised and just recently after getting a 'Black Friday' offer from Crucial on the CT750MX300SSD 750Mb drive at £126, decided to take the plunge on the SSD upgrade.
As recommended by Crucial I did a 'clean' install of OSX, importing my data after, which was a piece of cake and now my beloved old MacBook is full of p1ss and vinegar, ready to take whatever I throw at it and more, its such a pleasure to use I cant keep off it.
So thanks again to all and I hope you all have a Great Christmas and a crash-free New Year!
Kind regards, Al