Thanks to all of you I had tried this earlier but had made a second error and in my ignorance blamed the XML and XML::Simple, when it was really, plain old simple me. I'm pleased to report the data is flowing like a stream now.

Thanks again with the help of the monks and the fine folks at www.3c.org, I've achived a lot, in a very short time today. We are so lucky to have a community which is happy to share its knowledge.