SANYO cameras performing well in Holyhead

A centre for the performing and visual arts in Anglesey, North Wales has installed a CCTV system to deter and detect arson attacks.

The Ucheldre Centre in Holyhead on the Isle of Anglesey draws visitors from all across Snowdonia and North Wales who are attracted by the Centre’s community events which nurture the creativity of local people as well as to see the work of international artists and performers. The Centre, which is a registered charity, is within what was originally a convent chapel and includes a gallery amongst its attractions as well as a 200-seat theatre.

The cost of refurbishing the Centre and its grounds in the early 1990s was met by a partnership involving the Welsh Office, Gwynedd County Council, Anglesey Borough Council, and the Welsh Development Agency. Some of the facilities have also come from grants provided by the Lottery Fund and the Foundation for Sport and the Arts.

“We are very proud of the superb entertainment and educational facilities which we have to offer at the Ucheldre Centre,” said General Manager Mike Gould. “It has therefore been very disappointing that we have experienced a number of acts of vandalism which have been costly to repair. We think that it is most likely that most of the damage has been carried out by youths who have no real serious criminal intent. They have, for example, flooded the toilet blocks by leaving the taps running. Nevertheless the disruption caused is totally unacceptable.”

Mike Gould decided to install a CCTV system and looked for advice from David Hardman of MSI Ltd, an installation company which had previously installed the Centre’s intruder alarm system.“The Centre did not have a large budget for the CCTV system although it was helped by an Arson Grant from the Welsh Assembly which we were pleased to help them obtain,” said David Hardman. “Nevertheless I felt that we needed to install cameras which could provide high quality images so that if there were any further incidents the police could be provided with evidence which might lead to the culprits being caught and prosecuted.

SANYO were able to demonstrate to the satisfaction of David Hardman and Mike Gould that its Pan-Focus cameras could meet their expectations in terms of picture quality. As a result, MSI Alarms installed ten cameras, seven of which were carefully located to monitor activity inside the centre and with the remaining three cameras allowing surveillance of activity outside the Centre.

Nin e of these cameras are VDC -DP7585P vandal resistant colour dome cameras which incorporate SANYO’s ground breaking Pan-Focus technology. This ensures that the camera lens keeps all objects or people in focus no matter how close or far away they are from the camera. The x2.6 lens depth of field is such that it does not require any manual focus adjustment to deliver clear images of the whole view. Housed in an exceptionally tough die-cast aluminium enclosure and a polycarbonate dome for extra durability the VDC-DP7585P cameras can be adjusted remotely and controlled by Mike Gould and his colleagues by using the SANYO VAC-70 controller.

The tenth camera, the SANYO VCC-XZ600P, which has been installed externally, is also a vandal resistant dome and was specifically chosen for its motion detection capabilities.

The cameras are connected by twisted pair cable to SANYO VCC-L2017P colour monitors in Mike Gould’s office and the Centre’s box office.

“Since the CCTV system has been installed there has not been any further incidents of criminal activity and so perhaps the mere presence of the cameras is acting as a deterrent.” added Mike Gould. “I am certainly a lot happier that we are now in a much stronger position to find out how and when it happened should any anti-social or criminal activity occur in the future.”