Have spent the last 4 hours adding functions to use xxx qw(....) and screwing lots of things up.

It would be better if you tried to understand what's going on. Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different output is tantamount to madness (paraphrasing Einstein).

I would be glad if I could help you (call it helper syndrome if you want, or let it be as is.)

Refactoring a shitty old codebase requires skills surpassing the ability to write the stuff, even if it is just restricting what Exporter exports, and fixing the subsequent importing mantras. As computing lore says:

Debugging code is much harder than writing it in the first place. If you write your code as smart as you can, you are, by definition, too dumb to debug it.

So, fixing that ol'crap requires. Use it as it is, and if you don't want to - or are told to not to: build the required skills. Read the docs. We won't spoonfeed them to you.

Did you read the documentation of Exporter?

I won't fix your stuff, even if I could, that ain't. I'm not being lured into teaching you basics. That has been your parents job, and if they didn't cope, it's yours now. Read the docs. Read the docs!