Anton McNulty
antonmcnulty@mayonews.ie
A survey once revealed that 56 per cent of women admitted wearing loose fitting engagement rings for over 50 days before getting it resized because they wanted to show it off. One woman around Westport was among that 56 per cent when her engagement ring somehow slipped off her finger and ended up in a collection bucket for Mayo Mountain Rescue.
The strange discovery took place on Sunday when Robert Hunt, the Fundraising Officer, could not believe his eyes when he noticed a sparkle coming from a bucket of coins when counting up the previous days collection for the Mayo Mountain Rescue. As he shifted through the coins he discovered an engagement ring among the many euros and they have yet to make contact with its owner.
The collections took place on Saturday at three different venues in Westport - Bridge Street, Super Valu, and Corrib Oil - and the rescue service are now trying to ensure the ring is ‘rescued’ for the unfortunate bride-to- be.
Shane McGuire of Mayo Mountain Rescue told The Mayo News that they are perplexed as to how the ring slipped into the bucket as it had a lid on it.
“It would be usual to find plenty of foreign coins in our collection but we never found a ring before and we’re a bit perplexed about how it slipped off and fell into the bucket. The cynic in me would say that the relationship ended and she did not want to give the ring back but I hope not. We don’t really know what to do with it. The ring has gone to the jewellers to get valued but we don’t want it and ethically we can’t do anything with it. We are just hoping to rescue the ring for its owner and get it reunited,” he said.
The collection took place between 10am and 6pm on Saturday afternoon but Shane explained that they were not sure at which location the ring would have been lost or at what time. He added that because Westport was busy with visitors on the day it may be harder to locate the person who lost the ring.
The survey which was carried out by UK insurer Sheilas’ Wheels found that only 54 per cent of men managed to buy a ring that was the right size, with almost a third only finding out their partner’s ring finger measurement before making the purchase.
Many men said they intentionally bought a bigger ring to ensure their fiancée could wear it straight away. Despite spending an average of £1,412 sterling on an engagement ring, almost one in three men did not consider insuring against theft or loss, with one in four admitting they did not plan insuring it at all.
Shane explained that for security reasons they have been advised not to describe the ring and anybody claiming the ring will be asked to describe it before they hand it over. Any woman who may have lost their ring over the weekend is asked to contact Mayo Mountain Rescue on 087 6779700.
HAVE YOUR SAY email antonmcnulty@mayonews.ie with your comments