Hi, all thanks very much for the input.
When i design in RealPCB the components and tracks are on the same side. this is why i needed to mirror horizontally, to get pins of the 555 in the right place when i put it on the back of the board (where there are no tracks).
I have made the circuit successfully many times on a breadboard, but i have never used the cap connected to ground from pin 5.
I will give this a go though.
I used the photo resist method to produce this board, but i didnt develop it for long enough, so little lines of copper were left connecting tracks, which i scratched off with a stanley. I then cont. checked tracks before i started soldering, everything appeared to be in order.
I have left component leads long, so that i can easily remove them if this doesnt work, however i ensured that they were not shorting anything when i connected the power.
I have included pics of component side, and of track side. I apologise for the shite quality of my photos, my camera sucks, and ive compressed them heavily for users with slow connections
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thanks very much once again, I just cant express enough how much this is doing my head in.