Sorry for my lack of electrical literacy, but i'm not an electrician (hence me asking for help on the internet).
Fair enough, and nobody is saying you need to become one, but you must learn enough so that you understand what you're doing, and why, and what's going on, not just blindly following instructions telling you which wires to put in which terminals
I am just trying to save a bit of money and
Do a bit of diy.
Nothing wrong with that, but you have got to do it on the basis of real knowledge.
After further reading on this site i think the light switch i am trying to re-wire is a 2 way 2 gang.
Yup.
But it's been wired in an odd way - there shouldn't be conductors joined together like that, and also
that has probably been done badly, i.e. just twisted together and taped over - you need to put that right.
And what's going on with the earths? How are they joined?
The 1st light switch controls 3 lights within the garage and the 2nd one controls an outside light which is no redundent. As the outside light is no longer being used i want to change it to a 2 way 1 gang switch.
Then learn how lighting circuits work, equip yourself with the right tools, trace and identify the wiring, and make the changes you want.
As well as the info in the Wiki, you'll find more in the For Reference topic, and in there you'll also find some book and website recommendations.
There are 3 cables there at the moment but 1 doesnt go straight to the outside light it must go to another light within the circuit.
Or another switch?
As you look at the faceplate, the left switch controls 3 strip lights, now u mention a second switch there is another 1 gang switch that also controls the same 3 lights. But i dont think that the cables were red yellow and blue.
Does this help
Not a lot.
You should get a multimeter, learn how to use it, learn how the circuit is/might be/should be wired, and trace and identify the cables.
