Actually I've spent a fair part of the afternoon on this -
my solution,
replaced 'kindle for PC' with the previous version
the book I wanted to convert was then downloaded as a zip file, instead of a azw
Calibre then converted it !
it's differently formatted in the viewer - but as long as the text is readable that's all that matters.
serves me right for picking an Amazon freebie .....
now to remove kindle for PC from my PC -
Thanks for your help guys and gals .....