Rare ring found in Strood thanks to young metal detector fan Bailey Rowson
Published: 06:00, 14 July 2019
Updated: 14:12, 15 July 2019
An 11-year-old metal detector enthusiast found a unique engagement ring.
Bailey Rowson was the last hope for Kate Low and Simon Blair after the special band went missing.
Miss Low lost it while gardening at her friend’s house in Strood.
The 32-year-old, of Humber Crescent, Strood, said: “I wear the ring on a chain round my neck because I’m a cleaner.
“As I was helping in the garden, I felt the chain slip and I realised the ring was gone.
“I was absolutely gutted, I was sobbing my heart out, I couldn’t believe it.”
The stone on the ring was Tanzanite which had been mined at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro.
Then it was crafted by hand by a jeweller in Miss Lowe’s home country of Zimbabwe.
Mr Blair proposed in front of her family while on holiday in the southern African country in May.
Miss Low said: “The ring truly is one of a kind, it is inreplaceable.”
Friends scoured the garden, even a man from a metal detector club joined the search, but to no avail.
However, Bailey’s mum Carrie saw a post on Facebook and offered her son’s help.
Mrs Rowson, of Copperfield Road, Rochester, said: “We went round with the metal detector and searched everywhere.
"The previous man wouldn’t look under the decking, so we opened it up and Bailey went under.
“He kept picking up nails and then suddenly he yelled out.
“The ring was there in the soil in front of him.
“Simon was sobbing and Kate just sank to her knees crying.
“When we were in the car on the way home, Bailey said ‘I have a weird feeling in my tummy’.
“I said ‘that feeling is heart-warming’.
“I’m so proud of Bailey, sometimes he really surprises me with his intelligence, he loves reading, magnet fishing, learning about space and science.”
Bailey is joining Sir Joseph Williamson’s Mathematical School in September after he finishes at Delce Primary Academy.
He hope to become an archaeologist. Miss Lowe said: “I want to say a huge thank you to Bailey, he did so much to find the ring, he is awesome.”
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Rachel Dixon