Woman finds wedding ring she lost in a potato patch 50 years ago

A woman who lost her wedding ring in a potato patch in the Western Isles has found it, 50 years later.

Peggy MacSween’s ring slipped off her finger while she gathered potatoes at her home on Benbecula in the 1960s.

MacSween, 86, told the BBC: “I was shaking the sand out of my gloves and the ring disappeared. I didn’t know until I got home.

“I went out once or twice to look for it, but there was no way of finding it.”

While she thought all hopes of finding it were list, she recently had good luck when a fellow islander took out his metal detector and set to work finding it.

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Donald MacPhee dug 90 holes and found pieces of old metal, drinks cans and ring pulls before finding the ring after three days of searching the area where the potato patch once was.

MacSween added: “He just came to the door and said: ‘I have something to show you’. It was the ring.

“I couldn’t believe it, but there it was. I thought I would never see it again.”

MacSween’s husband John had bought her a replacement ring while they were on holiday. She wore her mother’s wedding ring until she got the new one but it must feel great that she’s got the original back now.

All’s well that ends well.