Wordpres Page Of Posts / Get Posts Required

Hi

I’m trying to get a summary of posts to appear on a WP page by category which includes;

Which Posts appear by category name(s).
Listed newest post first order.
Have a thumbnail if available.
Display the template read more button after so many words.

I’ve been playing with the TPG Get Posts plugin but it’s not quite right.

Using it I created a page here: http://www.payhembury.org.uk/test-page-of-posts/

It’s OK but the images are messing it up.

But I want the posts to look …