Never too late for quality advice James thank you.
Parts ordered today. As luck would have it I have been busy working on the house so this job got sidelined a bit, not as though a handbrake is desperately important here anyway. And a habit I got into when I started driving was to always depress the clutch when starting, so no problem leaving in gear.
Hill starts become trickier. I live up a steep hill and that leaking tbox seal was a PITA with a manual box.