Richard Higham, Author at The Ring Finders | Page 3 of 10

Nathan, wife, children & their friends travelled many miles from Yorkshire to enjoy a week away. One day whilst visiting the shallow clear waters of Shell Bay Nathan took his paddle board off for a little venture, fell off & only later returning to his car discovered his ring was missing!

The ring was steeped with history belonging to his great grandfather in 1915 having seen 2 world wars. Its loss would be obvious to anyone. The search area was huge- potentially 6 tennis court size areas but with spring tides due I was hopeful we would have clear mud flats in which to detect. They had searched in vain using just their eyes but proved fruitless hampered by many seashells resembling little rings too!

The first attempt  one evening took 2 hours & yielded nothing bar 1940’s pennies & lead weights. However, I knew that by the mornings low tide even more area near where he fell would be exposed.  The next morning, with the lower tide as I expected, about 15 meters from where we thought it was there it lay! Visibly & almost defiantly proud of the mud it shone! I posted the ring back to Nathan the next day as they had already returned home. He was amazed to have it back & made a generous donation to the Margret Green Animal Rescue.

Louise from Devon enjoyed a bite of luxury staying at the Haven Hotel, Sandbanks with her friend one weekend in June. It was the first time she had been away for years since losing her husband of 58 years & caring for him in his last seven. She doted on the ring he had given her all those years ago & was devastated to see it slip from her finger whilst swimming in the sea. Neck deep in water she could see it before it finally succumbed to the shifting sand, depth & waves.

Still upset it took 10 days for her to break the sad news to her daughter who took a chance to look for a potential miracle. When I received her call it was already 2 weeks since losing it in a notorious area of soft sand. Unsure of her exact position, difficult water depths to work in &  listening for the faintest signal made it seem a futile search. It was time to switch machines to the Whites Surf Master PI & patiently await a low tide..

During the following 2 weeks I spent 2 hours a time over five visits, digging over 100 holes. On my 11th hour, much closer to the shore the Surf Master gave a ‘Ghost Signal’. As usual I thought “another nail or bottle cap”. The signal grew stronger, passing 12 inches down a positive bleep and the from the blackened sand I caught a glimpse of gold! “A gold beer cap” I thought? Hurriedly I scooped again tossing the black dirty sand on to the shore. Proudly sitting on top in alls its crowning glory- there it was! I’m often asked ‘what’s the feeling like to recover something’? In this case utter relief, both physically & mentally.

I called Louise’s daughter Sarah to break the good news. So happy were they that the next day they drove an 8 hour round trip to collect it. I’m happy with every recovery I make but this one touched me more because of the sentiments the ring held. Later I was moved further when I learnt that Louise & Sarah had made a donation to the Margaret Green Animal Rescue beyond my furthest imagination.

Helen & Tom from Worcester had a splendid day out on Studland Beach recently but from Helens finger slipped her grandmothers wedding band. The ring , like many, was very precious to her & had been passed down since the 1930’s. At first we assumed it was most likely ‘out there’, somewhere in the sea after she’d gone swimming.

Preparing myself for a very long sea search, I firstly searched the beach area where they’d camped. Do the easiest area first, get it out of the way- ‘prepare for the big search’ so to speak.

I was amazed that after only 10 minutes up came the ring! We met the next day to reunite her with her ring & she was relieved & thrilled to have it back. They made a very kind donation to the Margaret Green Animal Charity as a sign of their gratitude.

Jay, wife & children, from London, enjoying a splendid day on Sandbanks Beach. What could go wrong? Watching your wedding ring slip from your finger out to sea, seeing it & desperately trying to recover it for an hour before finally its consumed by sand, sea & tide.

Lengthy discussions between us, photographs & even some maths on my behalf narrowed the area down to two tennis court size areas whereby when the tides were right, I’d have just wet sand to deal with. My first 2 hour attempt using the CTX 3030 found nothing. I was confused. Why wasn’t it there?! Second time, 2 hours, same area using a Whites PI, nothing again! I had concluded with my attempts & the machines I had used I was in the wrong area. Third time, push further out, extend the search area even if the so called facts ‘didn’t add up’!

After 2 hours with barely any signals I heard a faint beep & then another! Scooping the sand  furiously there it was! Big, bright, solid with diamonds twinkling at me like a million photographers flashes.  Jay was probably still in shock as I was to receive the ring back a few days later. The sand is renown for its softness in that area & items barely lay detectable sometimes a matter of hours!  Jay made a grateful & generous donation to the Margaret Green Animal charity.

John wife & family from Poole were enjoying a day out on the beach when John felt his ring slip from his finger in the sea.

After a painful search John gave up and sadly pondered the loss of his wedding ring. Over a week since he lost it he came across theringfinders.com and gave me a call. Some photos taken on the day of the loss helped me narrow down the search area. My first attempt yielded nothing but on the second- success!

I met John a few days later to return the ring and was thrilled to be reunited with it again. John promised to make a donation to the Margaret Green Animal Sanctuary shortly.

Mark, wife & family  visited Studland Beach from there home in Gloucester. Unfortunately Marks wedding ring slipped from his finger some time that day after building sand castles.

After receiving the call I visited the area not hopeful as it had been a day or two since losing it. Fortunately luck prevailed & I found the ring after only ten minutes. They’d had already left for home by then so I posted it to them to which they were most thankful.

A kind donation to the Margaret Green Animal Rescue was made to which I am most grateful .

One weekend when driving home after an unsuccessful ring recovery, I received a call from a lady desperate for my help. Jenny from Poole had gone to do some shopping at nearby ‘Currys’ but first needed to walk her dog Betsy in nearby Poole Harbor. It was then that the fun and the mud took place!

Just a stones throw from her car there seemed an idyllic spot to quickly walk the dog albeit “a little to close to the shoreline mud” Jenny said. No sooner she released her, Betsy bolted to the muddy waters to chase some birds getting stuck in belly deep mud. What seemed like minutes later & still struggling to free herself, Jenny entered to free her. Still holding her bag & keys etc she managed to pull her dog free, now caked in mud!

After cleaning her down as best she could with some tissues from her handbag it was then she noticed BOTH her mobile phone AND Car Keys were missing! A passer-by saw her distress & was kind enough to call me at the Ring Finders from his phone. She patiently awaited for an hour or so for me to arrive- dog firmly in hand this time. Caked in mud, fighting my way past trash after trash up came the keys from about a foot under! There was no, unfortunately, no phone.

Later when I returned home & cleaned up, Jenny called to say ‘thank you’ & was relieved to find that in fact her phone was in her Van all the time! ‘Alls well that ends well’ even though I’d spent well over an hour searching for it alone!! Because of the hours spent looking for the keys & phone Jenny promised to make a generous donation to the Margaret Green Animal sanctuary. More photos will be added soon.

 

Michael, his wife & friends took a stroll one summers day to Old Harry. Finding some stones, Michael showed a young lad how they used to do ‘flint knapping’ taking off his ring & carefully placing it on a jacket. Later, he threw his jacket on & returned to the car only to realize “wheres my ring”?!

They returned to he long narrow stretch of almost featureless field & searched for over an hour with no success. When Michael called me I was sure it could be found but prepared for a lengthy search. However after just half an hour the CTX3030 suddenly roared gold & there it was- lying in about three inches of grass.

Michael & wife were thrilled to be reunited with it & made a donation to Margaret Green Animal Sanctuary when they returned from holiday.

Newly weds Nigel & wife visited Studland Beach & desicided to take a swim as it had been a gloriuos summers day. After swimming, covering an area of about four tennis courts they dressed & went for a walk. It was some time later his wife noticed “wheres your ring”?! When I was contacted by Nigel I wasnt very optimistic in its recovery. That part of the beach is notorious for the high trash levels as it was used in World War II excercises & beach defences. My first two hour search almost confirmed this.

We were due low tides in a few days so early one morning I returned hoping the sea had retreated far enough to scan more precisely. Carefully gridding out the area proved fruitless but on my first run scanning outside of our proposed boundaries of search the tone of gold nearly defeaned me. The Minelab CTX3030 even displayed ‘overload’ as the machine passed it in 8 inches of water!

When I called Nigel to tell him of my find he was as surprised & pleased as I was myself! Nigel contacted the Margaret Green Animal Sanctuary & made a kind donation.