A Bromyard man has been waiting for a break in the weather so that he can use a metal detector to trace his lost wedding ring.
Richard Smith, a 72-year-old retired airline pilot, appealed for the loan of a metal-detector after losing the ring near his home.
He had several offers both of metal detectors and of help from people who know how to use them.
“I now have a metal detector, lent to me by a near-neighbour,” he said this week, “but I haven’t been able to use it yet because of the weather. The ground is still rock hard. I shall start searching as soon as the weather allows.”
Mr Smith and his wife Helen, aged 71, are keen to find the ring in time for their 50th wedding anniversary in October.
Mr Smith took a stroll to buy the Sunday papers at McColl’s convenience store on Bromyard by-pass when the ring fell off his finger.
The shop is about 300 yards from the Smiths’ home just behind Whitegate rest home. “It always disturbs me, how much litter there is,” he said. “I always put my wedding ring on my little finger because it’s a bit tight, and when I picked up a stray crisp packet or something similar it must have slipped off into the grass.
“I advertised for someone with a metal detector and said I’d be prepared to help with the search, pay expenses and buy the person a few beers,” he said.
The ring, bought 35 years ago, has proved a valuable asset over the years for Mr Smith, a retired British Airways captain.
“I wanted a ring so that the stewardesses knew I was married,” he said. “As far as they were concerned the crew were fair game.”
Mr and Mrs Smith celebrate their golden wedding next October, and hope they will have the ring back well before their big day.