Image Cache Issues in Drupal Commons Hosted on Aegir

running Aegir RC2 on Ubuntu 8.04 LTS and installed a Drupal Commons 1.3 site

some image uploads work ok i.e. logo and groups, but display breaks for groups (on groups pages), and for profile thumbnails it doesnt work at all (i.e upload and display broken)

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group image errors
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group image works on homepage, but not on group page

WORKS OK
http://commons.test.transition.coop/home
http://commons.test.transition.coop/sites/commons.test.transition.coop/f...

BROKEN BAD
http://commons.test.transition.coop/group/just-transition
http://commons.test.transition.coop/sites/commons.test.transition.coop/f...
for group images, get these three errors

Type	php
Date	Friday, 25 March, 2011 - 18:07
User	admin
Location	http://commons.test.transition.coop/sites/commons.test.transition.coop/files/imagecache/group_images/group_images/wi-cows.jpg
Referrer	http://commons.test.transition.coop/group/just-transition
Message	mkdir() [<a href='function.mkdir'>function.mkdir</a>]: Permission denied in /var/aegir/platforms/drupal_commons-6.x-1.3/profiles/drupal_commons/modules/contrib/imagecache/imagecache.module on line 555.
Severity	error

imagecache

Type	imagecache
Date	Friday, 25 March, 2011 - 18:07
User	admin
Location	http://commons.test.transition.coop/sites/commons.test.transition.coop/files/imagecache/group_images/group_images/wi-cows.jpg
Referrer	http://commons.test.transition.coop/group/just-transition
Message	Failed to create imagecache directory: sites/commons.test.transition.coop/files/imagecache/group_images/group_images

Type	imagecache
Date	Friday, 25 March, 2011 - 18:07
User	admin
Location	http://commons.test.transition.coop/sites/commons.test.transition.coop/files/imagecache/group_images/group_images/wi-cows.jpg
Referrer	http://commons.test.transition.coop/group/just-transition
Message	Failed generating an image from group_images/wi-cows.jpg using imagecache preset group_images.
Severity	error

#############
profile image errors
#############

profile image breaks on upload and display

Type	php
Date	Friday, 25 March, 2011 - 18:14
User	admin
Location	http://commons.test.transition.coop/sites/commons.test.transition.coop/files/imagecache/user_picture_meta/pictures/picture-1.jpg
Referrer	http://commons.test.transition.coop/
Message	mkdir() [<a href='function.mkdir'>function.mkdir</a>]: Permission denied in /var/aegir/platforms/drupal_commons-6.x-1.3/profiles/drupal_commons/modules/contrib/imagecache/imagecache.module on line 555.
Severity	error

Type	imagecache
Date	Friday, 25 March, 2011 - 18:14
User	admin
Location	http://commons.test.transition.coop/sites/commons.test.transition.coop/files/imagecache/user_picture_meta/pictures/picture-1.jpg
Referrer	http://commons.test.transition.coop/
Message	Failed to create imagecache directory: sites/commons.test.transition.coop/files/imagecache/user_picture_meta/pictures
Severity	error

Type	imagecache
Date	Friday, 25 March, 2011 - 18:14
User	admin
Location	http://commons.test.transition.coop/sites/commons.test.transition.coop/files/imagecache/user_picture_meta/pictures/picture-1.jpg
Referrer	http://commons.test.transition.coop/
Message	Failed generating an image from pictures/picture-1.jpg using imagecache preset user_picture_meta.
Severity	error