Well solved the mystery! 
Upon reviewing the board schematics on the website once more, I realised the the board does have a quirk; its SPI connection is via the ICSP header and does not use the ‘standard’ pins 11,12 and 13 and truth be told the example code sort of omit this VERY IMPORTANT point as unless one has used the sheild before it would not be so obvious at first!
anyhow, as I could not use the ICSP connections in my final design, I wired up those pins in the sheild to pin 11, 12 and 13 and eureka the board came to life!