I have reported it as bug 389 so I guess I will see what they make of it. I did get a step further by entering "config set imap service access public status enabled TCPPort 143" at the command line, but there is still problems.
That solved my problems, thanks. With this posting I guessing anyone else with same issue sould now be able to find a solution too
Do I need to do anything with the bug report or will that be handled by the admin?
I think the key is that people like me can find the info need to configure for issues like this. I made a fair effort to check the documentation and forums sections of this site for the info I needed before posting here.