Ok thanks.
I'll have a look at everything you have said.

I did some access and sql a long time ago but not recently.

I thought that I had actually bound the rating combo box to the second table I had created for ratings only.

Also thought that the buttons I created using the wizard were already bound to the table.
I did use the data import to bring most of the data that was in that table from excel prior to beginning to develop the forms etc.

I will look at starting over again and see how we go.