Remove all existing products from your Admin > Catalog > Featured section; then the feated page should load but with a message of there being no featured products. Then add a product to your featred to see itbthat arreas correctly.
Let us know how you get on.
ok removed all products from the featured list...still the error message and I even opened in a different browser
maybe there is an old file lurking about? I will try re-uploading the files again if have to