Over the weekend 28th/29th March David Rees (Chairman Trowbridge and District Metal Detecting Club) received a call from Julian Hawkins. He explained that during the previous week his family had visited Centre Parcs at Longleat, Wiltshire as a birthday present for his 16 year old son. This was something his son wanted them to enjoy together. They were going to undertake tree trekking, and just before they set off Julian’s wife was asked to remove all items of jewellery as part of the H & S policy. She put her engagement and wedding ring (part of a matching pair with Julian’s) into a zipped pocket in her jacket. When they finished and she went to put her ring back on she found it was missing. The family and staff searched but couldn’t find it. Over the weekend Julian and David secured permission to carry out a search within Centre Parcs with club members on Monday 30th March at 5:00 p.m. David Rees: Mike Hiscocks: Dave Crisp: Ray Case: Sue and Jim Wyborn: Sue Kerfoot all met as arranged with Julian, and accompanied by security staff they went to the location of the start of the Tree trekking where the ring had been removed from the finger. The ground consisted of earth covered in bark pieces. Julian was given a spare Minelab detector (an Xterra 70 with a 6" Double D head that Finbar had supplied from Ireland) by Jim Wyborn and quickly told how to use it. Whilst the others searched around the area, David (who normally uses his Etrac) stayed with Julian to assist him. They all searched for about 30 minutes finding a few one pence pieces and other small denomination coins. Julian handed the machine to David because he felt he was not confident in using it so David decided to search an area with him near a log bench………and had a signal registering 16; it was the ring just under the bark surface and slightly pressed into the earth below. Julian was delighted, there were many shouts of joy, and the security staff just couldn’t believe it had been found. When they got back to the cars and Julian telephoned his wife she broke down crying and thanks everyone for their help. Julian who plays Rugby, told David that when he cannot play anymore he now might consider taking up the hobby of metal detecting.
David Rees – England, UK