EVERY dip of the oar in the Olympic rowing races in Beijing will be caught on television cameras developed and manufactured in the New Forest.

David Bradley, of Bradley Engineering, near Brock-enhurst, is no stranger to the world of highly technical miniature and remotely operated cameras.

He's been producing them for about ten years for customers around the world. Business is now taking off in more ways than one.

Apart from high- flying expansion plans, his HD10 cameras are to be hung on a tiny cable suspended diagonally across the Olympic rowing course.

Contained in a 230mm diameter sphere the cameras are balanced on a dual gimbal and controlled by seven miniature gyros which are operated remotely by the operator.

They are suspended from a wheeled pulley which can travel at up to 165km an hour on a 6mm Kevlar cable which can be slung between two points up to 1,000 metres apart.

As the rowers move up the course, the camera will track their progress, gradually moving closer and closer until they pass under it.

Then it will swivel round to trace the desperate race to the finish line.

The cameras - costing £45,000 each and produced in small numbers in Setley - have been used with great success in the Indian Cricket League.

Other cameras produced by Bradley Engineering, which contracts out work to an engineering company in Poole, include those used on The F Word, I'm a Celebrity and the US National Hockey League.

A contract is about to be signed with the BBC's Natural History Unit in Bristol for cameras for Springwatch and Big Cat Live.

Mr Bradley is currently setting up a factory unit and putting together an American office. He is also in talks with Premiership football teams.

"We spent about ten years developing these things. We've been muddling along, but we've had some nice contracts. It's suddenly taking off," he said.

Gareth Lewis