A LOCAL metal detectorist has reunited a pair of newlyweds with an engagement ring after it flew off the bride’s hand midway through the outdoor ceremony.
Abi and Tony Clark got married at St Brelade’s Bay Hotel on Friday 24 May, on the green common across the road which looks directly onto the beach.
However, the outdoor setting meant the couple were left to battle nature, with Mrs Clark swatting away bugs and wasps. However, in doing so, her engagement ring flew off her hand and guests were searching the area to no avail.
Mr Clark said: “Abi had an engagement ring, which she was holding in her opposite hand and then a wasp got right in Abi’s face and she shooed it away, and the ring went flying.”
“For a second she kept it quiet, and then after a while said it a bit louder to everyone. There must have been a good ten or 15 people up during the ceremony looking for this ring. I think we were looking for about five minutes and then we decided to carry on with the ceremony.”
Guests and a member of the hotel’s staff with a metal detector helped to try to find the lost engagement ring in the gardens, but were unsuccessful as the ring had disappeared onto the beach below.
“It was quite funny because the gardener from the hotel was walking around with a metal detector. We were getting our photos and then he actually got in a photo because it was quite a laugh and a giggle,” Mr Clark explained.
However, while his new bride tried to see the funny side, Mr Clark said that the loss of the engagement ring “lingered over Abi” during the remainder of the wedding day celebrations, as “she was really devastated”.
Wedding guests Callum and Jess Groves contacted Steve Andrews, a metal detectorist who specialises in finding rings and items, and asked him to aid the search.
And Mr Andrews was able to recover the missing ring. He said: “It was very quick. It can take hours, depending on where people have lost things, and this ring took ten to 15 minutes, so really not long at all.
“I’ve done some recoveries really soon after people have been married, like the next day or two days, but never actually at the moment.”
Since 2015, Mr Andrews has been helping return lost rings to Islanders using his trusty metal detector. Helping the Clarks was the 142nd time he had reunited someone with there seemingly lost jewellery.
Mr Andrews said his most valuable find was a “ladies Rolex gold watch which is quite valuable, but it was also a gift from her late husband who’d given it to her 30 years previously”.
“It had massive sentimental value as well as monetary,” he said.
When asked how it feels to reunite people with something that they thought had been lost forever, Mr Andrews shared that “it’s the sentimental value that’s the draw for me to get it back to people”.
“I enjoy doing it because I enjoy the challenge. I also know it means a lot to people Everyone’s got something that is sentimental to them and I know how I’d feel if I lost my wedding ring or my wife lost hers. It’s a nice thing to do, and I enjoy doing it,” he continued.
Mr Andrews returned the engagement ring to Callum and Jess Groves, who kept the discovery of the ring a secret from the couple in the hope to surprise them with its reappearance as they cut their wedding cake.
“It was such a surprise, Abi’s face dropped. We just were not expecting it, to be honest. And because everyone was sat down watching us ready to cut the cake, it was so lovely that everyone got to see the moment,” said Mr Clark.
The newlyweds said they are indebted to Mr Andrews for his generosity and kindness for going out of his way to save their special day.
“What he does in his free time at no cost, is so special,” said Mr Clark. “It’s amazing and I don’t think he gets the credit he deserves. He does a lot of sentimental stuff, which is just so special and important.”
