Thanks chaps. I'm now the proud owner of a pair of Recoil 900s, which felt very comfy in the nets on Monday, although I probably tightened the straps a little over enthusiastically.
I picked up a kookaburra thigh pad (also 900) for £15.99 which seems good and tough, but I haven't had the chance to test it yet. I assume when I get round to purchasing some trousers that they are designed to be big enough to fit over all this stuff!
Gloves next, and they are on the way from onlinestockist.com (having read the posts about indian/small men's size) so I'm making some good progress this week with getting my kit together!
Thanks again for the advice.