thesmithster wrote:I've recently bought a 2nd hand X61 and it had it running for about a month when the hard disk failed. IBM/Lenovo wont let me transfer the warranty and so wont give me any support

In general, with ThinkPads even where a base warrantry is supported in the a country (other than the country of original sale) through IWS, some of the extended warranties may not be. This was the case in IBM days, and as far as I'm aware that has not changed significantly with Lenovo. It will depend on specifically what the "extension" was to the base warranty.
You need to work out the warranty issue with Lenovo, but buying from a seller another country before confirming specifically what warranty support will be available from the local organisation you expect to deliver the warranty is always a risk with
any product.
thesmithster wrote:I have reinstalled Vista (just had to buy a new copy!) but when I have installed and updated with the Lenovo Rescue & Recovery software etc... it doesnt recreate the recovery partition???
If you used a retail version of Vista, it will not install a recovery partition.
thesmithster wrote:Is there anywhere I can obtain/buy a copy of the Vista rescue DVD/CD's.
Quite apart from any warranty issues, Lenovo in the UK should still sell you set of Recovery disks for whatever operating system is licenced on the Microsoft CoA (Certificate of Autheticity) on the base of your X61. This will install the relevant factory-level operating system, including the recovery partion.
Cheers,
Bill B.