I did wonder about elastic bands but didn't make the connection that the bees would have stabilised the comb by the time the bands would have disintegrated.
Thank you for your guidance all, as a lone beekeeper your valuable experience is is greatly appreciated.
Geoff
I have in my possesion a national brood box, floor & roof containing a swarm which unfortunately I have not been able to return to for some 3 weeks since housing the swarm. I inspected it last night and sure enough as expected I have several oval combs about 6 inches long suspended from the roof...