Hi and thanks a lot for that. That is correct, I do want the widgets to the left of the content. I have done what you advised but still not sure how to actually get the widgets onto the area. I have gone into
Appearance->widgets and my options for widget placement are Main Sidebar, showcase sidebar and Footer areas 1, 2 and 3. I have tried placement of the required widgets in the Main and showcase sidebars but now those widgets don;t seem to be appearing anywhere, including at the bottom of the contest as they used to!
Sorry to keep bothering you about this but I'm not great on computers so find this technical stuff fall a bit confusing.
Regards,
Deepa