Peggy MacSween, 86, thought she would never again see her wedding band after losing it in the 1960s

Abigail Taylor

Benbecula woman Peggy MacSween could not believe her eyes yesterday (30th November 2021) when a lost treasure was returned to her more than 50 years after it was last seen on the machair at Liniclate.

Back in the 1960s she and her now late husband, John, who were married in 1958, were digging for potatoes on the machair when her gold wedding band disappeared.

“We were out lifting potatoes on the machair at Liniclate. I was wearing gloves, which kept filling with sand, so every so often I took them off and shook them to get rid of some of the sand. I never thought about the ring until we got home and realised it was missing. I thought it was lost and that there was no reason to go back and look for it,” explained Peggy.

She related the story several weeks ago in a conversation with Donald MacPhee from Nunton. Donald, who owns a metal detector, offered to look around the site where the ring was lost in Liniclate.

“I decided to have a look around the area Peggy said she thought the potato patch had been,” explained Donald.

“It was definitely a needle in a haystack scenario! I found ring-pulls and bottle tops but no sign of the ring. Neil MacPherson then showed me the exact area where the patch had been and so the location was narrowed down.

“I was still finding random bits of rubbish and then gave up for a while. I went back to the area yesterday (30th November 2021) to pass a few hours and, out of the blue, heard the signal that I had found something. When you are metal detecting, you work in an area moving up and down in straight lines. I was scanning the ground like this and then, for some reason, decided to veer off to my right and the metal detector picked up a signal.

“I started digging, flipped over the turf and there it was, like new, shining gold! You can still see the hallmark in full detail after all these years.”

Donald made his way immediately to return the lost treasure to Peggy.

“Peggy had actually laughed about me even looking for it but she was speechless when it was handed to her this afternoon all wrapped up!”

Peggy herself could hardly contain her surprise on having the missing wedding band returned after 50 years.

“I could not believe it when Donald appeared at the door and told me he had found something,” said Peggy.

“It is amazing that he found it and it still fits!”