A couple who has been married for more than 50 years have been ‘relieved’ to be reunited with a wedding ring after it went missing on a North East beach earlier this year.

Wallace and Mary Stephenson, who have been married for 51 years, thought they’d never see Wallace’s wedding ring again when he lost it while out retrieving his boat on Beadnell beach in Northumberland in August.

But the pair were reunited with the gold ring after a metal detectorist out on Beadnell beach discovered it buried in the sand and managed to make contact with Wallace’s family over Facebook to return his ring to him.

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Gary Buckingham, who runs the County Durham Metal Detectorists group and whose father-in-law David made the discovery on the beach, told The Northern Echo: “My father-in-law has a caravan up at Beadnell and he was out with his metal detector pass an evening when he came across the gold ring in the sand.

The Northern Echo: Picture: NORTHERN ECHOPicture: NORTHERN ECHO (Image: NORTHERN ECHO)

“We knew we had to try and reunite it with it’s owner so I posted it on Facebook to see if we could find whose it was.

“I had quite a few people contact me but Wallace’s family described exactly what it was like and sent a photo. You can tell when it’s definitely the right person’s ring. He was so relieved to have got it back.”

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The County Durham Metal Detectorist group hold detecting events to raise money for the Great North Air Ambulance and managed to raise more than £5,000 for the charity last year.

They’re hoping to raise more than £6,000 this year and have been helped along by a donation from Wallace and wife Mary to show their appreciation after being reunited with the ring. They’re also currently looking for landowners to host their events to allow them to raise more funds.

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