Richard Higham, Author at The Ring Finders | Page 6 of 9

Visiting Swanage with her daughter for the day, Louisa Lombardo from Dorchester lost her wedding band whilst making sand castles on Swanage Beach. She has an anxious wait as I was still at work but was very quickly reunited with her ring a few hours later.
The ring was dropped next to an Ice Cream hut which is a popular hunting ground for the Coin Shooting metal detectorists who would have had a very nice surprise should they have got there first.
Louisa very kindly made a donation to the Margret Green Animal Sanctuary.

When Dom Gernon and family of Luton, Beds witnessed his daughters favorite ball slowly drifting out to sea after a day on Swanage Beach heroically he swam out 50 meters to rescue it. Unfortunately in pursuit of the ball he felt his wedding ring slip from his finger and sink beneath 10 feet of water. He tried in vain searching later with a mask and snorkel but unfortunately depth and visibility were against him. I too tried later but the task was impossible and we decided to await the low tides in a few days. We knew the rough location but considering the water would still be 4 feet deep and murky I knew it was not going to be easy.
Over a week later the low tides arrived but a two hour evening searched brought nothing bar some old coins. At dawn the next morning I searched two more hours again concentrating on the periphery of my search area. The remains of a dead crab caught my eye. Its legs, body and claws lay scattered and almost in the middle lay the distinctive round shape of a ring. Without even using the CTX my scoop gathered the ring and remains of the crab and a quick check of the inscription it was the ring I was hunting. This was another example of ‘the Ring found me’!
Mr Gernon was over the moon and made a generous donation to Margret Green Animal Charity.

Mr Owen Jones of Winchester was very upset to lose his Platinum Wedding Band when playing catch with his son in his garden recently. Even though he had felt the ring be launched from his finger the good news was that both he and his wife heard the ring land close by hitting a wall. This information to all ring finders like myself is very reassuring as the search area is narrowed down and time spent reduced. This though however… turned out not to be the case.
A couple of days after receiving the call I arrived to find a small neat garden with wood chip borders and grass neatly cut. We reenacted the moments leading to the rings loss and focused on the area they had heard the ring land. The search of the garden bore nothing so the search continued over the garden wall and into the dense undergrowth. After nearly two hours in driving rain still nothing and we were quite perplexed as to its whereabouts.
Though a ‘quick look’ around the neighbors garden had been done and the ring was heard to fall elsewhere I decided the neighbors was still worth another look. We knew the ring had made a ‘dink’ sound so I began to look for hard objects it could have struck. Without even turning the CTX on my eye was drawn to a clay pot where at the base of it lay the ring.
Those first few seconds after you find what you’ve been looking for is a feeling of relief and excitement, I wonder how relieved our clients must feel?!
Mr Jones was extremely relieved to have the ring back as was I after such a difficult job detecting through the undergrowth in the pouring rain. My charity, Margret Green Animal Rescue received a generous donation from the Jones family.
Oh…. the ‘dink’ sound the ring made and the search of the wrong garden??? I put this down to the echo they received of the ring landing against the pot in the neighbors garden.

For Mike Biddlecombe of Christchurch Dorset, the exciting prospect of a new metal detecting hobby nearly turned into a disaster on his very first day!!
After sharing an interesting conversation over a coffee in Swanage with another Metal Detectorist, Mike was keen to take up his new hobby and soon purchased a new CTX 3030. He took his new machine to Studland Beach with the prospect of finding treasure on the new exposed shallow sands after recent storms had uncovered large areas. Like any new Detectorist using a brand new complex machine and being a novice the machine sang a cacophony of sounds on every sweep. A few items 1940’s coins turned up and plenty of trash too- a few tips and machine tweeking were desparately needed!
In the frustration of digging hole after hole, bending down, sifting sand and losing targets Mike tugged at his gloves several times to remove them and clean his finds. What Mike didnt realise until he left the beach that removing his gloves he had also pulled off and lost his gold bracelet which he’d owned for some 40 years! He tried using his machine to locate the item but yet again the series of sounds and chatters just confused the matters.
After meeting Mike on the beach I grid-scanned an area twice the size of a tennis court. The sand level had dropped through the storms considerably and I found 26 coins from 1940’s til modern. This coin shooting would have been good fun on any other day but today we had a significant recovery to make! I’d almost given up having covered the probable area and thought I’d give one more scan along the furthest edge. As any Detectorist knows gold chains make difficult targets to detect, however due to the colossal size of each link of his 65 gram chain the CTX moaned as I hit the target.
Mike and I met a few days later and very relieved he is pleased to make a donation to the Margaret Green Animal Sanctuary in Church Knowle Dorset.

Emma Shaw & friends found themselves playing volley ball in one of the many open areas in the sand dunes of Studland Beach. The beach was extensively used in WW2 as a training ground for the forthcoming D-Day landings and a practice bombing range too. Some craters were so large they still exist today as tennis court size ‘bowls’ and it was in one of these bowls Emma & friends found themselves playing.
During the game she accidentally ripped her chain and pendants from around her neck sending them flying in all directions. The chain and two pendants were found immediately but her third disappeared. It was her precious VW Camper she had bought as a teenager with the wish to one day buy a real one of her own.
The first attempt lasted 2 hours but we was unsuccessful. Though the sand looked clean the amount of bomb shrapnel and lead underneath was phenomenal and the scoop was used on nearly every single sweep.
The second attempt lasted another hour and a half- this time a new location but equally the same amount of junk. I was beginning to lose hope when suddenly from the bottom of the scoop, expecting more shrapnel, lay a cute little silver

VW. My patience and perseverance were tested on this recovery as I could not afford to ignore any signal large of small. Emma has promised a donation to the Margaret Green Animal Rescue Centre shortly.
Emma unfortunately had a sad week losing her pendant and other things and Im very pleased to have made her a little happier recovering something so small and yet so massively important to her.

Mr & Mrs David Pocklington from Datchet were enjoying a few days away and staying at friends in Swanage.
Having spent all day on the beach, a little wet, some sand and the fact his ring was always a little loose- laying down he actually felt it slip from his finger and fall close by. The sand this time of year is fine, dry and deep so the ring disappeared instantly.
I received the call from Dave who was only 30 seconds walk from my home and started a search immediately

. Three sweeps, reassuring hum of white gold and there it was.
Very relieved to have it back Dave has promised to make a donation to the Margaret Green Animal Rescue Centre very shortly.

Mr & Mrs Peter Munsie from Bristol were enjoying their holiday by visiting Southbourne Beach with their children. Like many careful people they placed their valuables in items of clothing etc and on this occasion Peters Wedding ring was placed through the watch strap.
Later when the watch was taken from the bag the ring slipped off in the process and dropped somewhere into the soft sand.
I received the call from Peters wife Jo explaining the situation but I was still at work at the airport. It would take a few hours to travel back home, grab my kit and travel all the way back again. Southbourne beach is regularly visited by beach combers so it was important to get there before them. I managed to borrow an old C-Scope from a friend who lived near the airport so as I finished work I got the detector, met the couple and found the ring within a minute or two.
Peter and Jo were very very pleased to get the ring back and have promised to make a generous donation to the Margaret Green Animal Rescue Center.
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