Thanks again Charlie but I really would like to get something a little 'more elegant'!! ;-)

Would anyone like to take up the challenge for something in VBA. Possibly something run from a button so I can select the cell or row containing that cell to populate it with the reference?!?!!?

The formula I have which produces the reference from various selections of data from various cells within the given row is as follows:

="PJW/"&G3&"/"&LEFT(B3,2)&LEFT(C3,2)&TEXT(ROWS($1:1),"0000")

It produces the following: PJW/GAFE/BiTh0001

The first part will always be PJW the second is the initials of the person dealing with that work (taken from column G) and the rest is the first two letters of two relevant entries with the unique number at the end.

A bit messy but it works!

Thanks again Charlie (BTW I already give to Action Aid! ;-) )