Large Community Installation
Leicester College

Successful Crackdown On Church Metal Theft

EIGHTEEN months after a police crackdown on metal theft from churches and other public buildings in the Waverley district of Surrey, there has been only one reported incident, where previously there had been over 100 lead thefts in a six-month period.

A scheme using forensic marking product SelectaDNA Grease from security company Selectamark was introduced by Waverley Police after a continued rise in the theft of materials such as copper piping, York stone, and lead from public buildings.

Facts About Copper
Copper was one of the first metals to be exploited by man over 10,000 years ago.  The Romans used it as a roof covering for the Pantheon in 27 BC and many of the great churchs of medieval Europe were roofed in the material.  Indeed, the Copper roof of Hildersheim Cathedral installed in 1280 survives intact to this day.

John Williams & Company was established in 1870, although the origins are obscure and could date back as far as 1822 with a 'Williams' in Bangor, North Wales. It was incorporated as John Williams & Company Rotherhithe Ltd. in 1931. This name was changed in 1993 to John Williams & Company Ltd. and in 2004 the present company John Williams & Company (Contracting) Ltd. was formed.

LCA---  25 YEARS OF MAINTAINING STANDARDS
From Alistair Rae, Chairman, Lead Contractors Association 1984 - 1986


It was a cold November day in London as I arrived off the sleeper from Edinburgh to attend the first meeting of a working party set up to consider the formation of a trade association for specialist lead contractors. The meeting had been arranged by the Lead Development Association after earlier efforts involving the BSI had foundered, mainly because of the cost of running a small independent trade organisation of only a hundred members.