ClonyXXL shows 10 Skulls and Secure ROM *new* v 4.84.81.004 as the protection. Does this mean it is impossible to copy?

No, it's not impossible, nor nowadays particulary difficult.

Read this and this

However if you have problems with this, please post in the correct forum as this is just a place to list protections, not to discuss them.

Thanks for the help. I followed the steps described but when I put the backup copy into my CD rom I got the message that it could not see the disc and to eject it and reinsert it and when I did the same message came up. Being new to this sort of thing I therefore assumed the copy was a failure and threw it out but now on further reading I see that this was not necessarily the case. I need to use a CD rom reader that is not a writer to test if the copy is ok or some sort of utilty to hide the CD writer. Am I correct?

Yes, if playing your backup in a cd-writer you will need to use software to hide the fact that you are using a cd-r disc (an ATIP hider). Both CloneCD and Alcohol 120% have these options available. However you can avoid this problem all together by using a cd / dvd-rom drive that has no writing capabilities.

Good luck!