I didn't give up on you...
Old Toad wrote:
This is a WAG (wild a.. guess) solution:
1 - assemble the components of the "live" photos into a folder on the Desktop. Include the .AAE files for each photo.
2 - import that folder into a Photos Library.
I don't expect it to work but it's worth a try. When it doesn't offer an apology to Larry because he was correct in that there's no way to reassemble a broken live photo.
After playing with it for a bit I discovered that the reason why my initial import didnt work was because the mov file had a different date to the original file. It said was todays date as I 'exported' a version from aperture without realising. I exported the 'original' and BOOM, the simple drag of the folder into photos enabled it perfectly without a long winded download of external apps. So although one can 'make' a live photo from the mov file and choosing the image as the still, just simply having a mov and jpeg file with the same metadata does the job. Photos recognises it immediately.
So advice to those who say 'It cant be done'...well it can.
Thanks Old Toad...this is all I asked for, something constructive. You're genius.