cheers - I'm not a "heavy" braker myself - I've never replaced pads, even my sportsbike (which I've owned for near 10 years & 14,000 miles) is still on its original pads!
I've been and cleaned them with aerosol brake cleaner (muc off stuff) and the noise has gone - the "clip" thing is part of the bracket, not the pad. The pads themselves appear to have between 4 and 5mm of "fat" left on them - what does a new pad start at?
thanks again,
g