function formatDate(date) {
	// rearrange dd/mm/yyyy or dd/mm date to month dd, yyyy for date class
	dateString = new String(date);
	dateArray = dateString.split('/');

	// If date did not split - ie not in dd/mm/yy format return it unaltered
	if (dateArray.length == 1) return date;


	// convert the Month to a string
	var monthName ='';
	switch (dateArray[1]) {
		case "1":
		case "01":
		monthName = ' Jan ';
		break;
		case "2":
		case "02":
		monthName = ' Feb ';
		break;
		case "3":
		case "03":
		monthName = ' Mar ';
		break;
		case "4":
		case "04":
		monthName = ' Apr ';
		break;
		case "5":
		case "05":
		monthName = ' May ';
		break;
		case "6":
		case "06":
		monthName = ' Jun ';
		break;
		case "7":
		case "07":
		monthName = ' Jul ';
		break;
		case "8":
		case "08":
		monthName = ' Aug ';
		break;
		case "9":
		case "09":
		monthName = ' Sep ';
		break;
		case "10":
		monthName = ' Oct ';
		break;
		case "11":
		monthName = ' Nov ';
		break;
		case "12":
		monthName = ' Dec ';
		break;
	}

	// First check to see if we were supplied a year
	var newDate ='';
	if (dateArray[2] == '') {

		// get the current date
		var today = new Date();

		// Rearrange date and append year
		newDate = monthName + ' ' + dateArray[0] + ', ' + today.getFullYear();

	} else {
		newDate = monthName + ' ' + dateArray[0] + ', ' + dateArray[2];
	}

	return newDate;

}