[Ropster]

I have inherited a 2 stroke strimmer from my mother in law's shed, unfortunatley it has not been started for a couple of years since her husband passed on.

my problem is I can't get it to go at all
I have checked the plug and it appears to be sparking

does anyone have a miracle cure or any suggestions at to what I can try to get it running,

it appears to be in good condition and the shed it was in was dry

[Gwiz]

Just a wild stab-in-the-dark, But I'll bet a it had fuel in it for the last couple of years, didn't it?
Modern petrol goes of in next to no time at all, and when mixed with two stroke oil, this seems to speed things up!
You will have a very gummed up carb (on the inside) and it will need to be cleaned out before you ever get it going, unless you are very, very lucky.
Where abouts in surrey are you? and what make is the strimmer?

[Ropster]

it didnt appear to have petrol in it , but that doesnt mean it hadn't evaporated, I guess Ill have to strip it down and clean it , cant remember the make off the top of my head, Im in guildford.
what's good for cleaning 2 stroke oil off ? Petrol ? meths ?

[Gwiz]

I usually use a carb cleaner. I expect that you might find the inside of the carb is very "gummy", or at least it will have evidence that it has been so. You will  find access to an air line very usefull for cleaning it out, but beware, there is a very tiny little gauze filter inside the carb body (if it's a relativly new type of strimmer) it's all too easy to blow it out and loose it.
The filter could be blocked with oil reside, you can pry it out and clean it in meths if you don't have anything else. I wouldn't recomend using petrol.
You might also find that the spring and needle is stuck, and not allowing petrol to pass through. This often happens on carbs that have been left with petrol in them.Try  not to alter the hieght of the metering lever, or damage the metering diagphram at all.
I'm not too far away, if you run into problems.