I eventually managed to get around to checking the collimation on my 8SE. I purchased an artificial star and some Bob’s Knobs which seems to make things a bit easier. The check and adjustments were made indoors. We have a long central hallway and rooms at either end so was able to find the necessary distance needed to carry out the procedure . Not having external distractions such as wind, fogging , tracking etc made things much easier for my first real attempt at collimation.
it was pretty obvious that things were improving as I moved thru the adjustment process using the ever stronger eyepieces.
Last night was my first outing with the 8SE so was keen to see if I could split some of the doubles that evaded me previously.
it was suggested earlier in the thread that I try Castor , this was easily split . Mintaka was very easy also. I failed with Alnitak and Rigel and could not see E or F in the Trapezium. Perhaps I need to perform a star test next time out in order to fine tune things. In any event my instrument is performing better than it was previously so thanks to all who have assisted.