By Cara Sulieman
A NEWLYWED who had waved goodbye to her wedding ring forever after losing it during a snowball fight has had it returned to her after a string of lucky events.
Minpreet Jongkees lost her sparkler during a romantic Christmas Day snowball fight on the Meadows with her husband Arjan.
And after two days of scouring the huge area in Edinburgh with metal detecting enthusiasts, she had given up all hope of seeing the special ring again.
But restaurant worker Matthew Gilgore literally stumbled on the band when he was rugby tackled to the ground during a sunny day out.
“Crazy”
He advertised his find on Gumtree and it was spotted by the eagle-eyed metal detector enthusiast who had searched for the ring last December.
Sandy Lyon explained how a chance meeting with another client led to the happy ending.
He said: “It’s a crazy tale. I had originally spent two days trying to find the ring, but we didn’t have any luck. The Meadows is just so big.
“Then last week a girl from Leith asked me if I could try to help her find her white gold wedding band.
“I couldn’t find it, but by chance she mentioned that a rind that was similar to hers had been advertised in the lost-and-found section of Gumtree.
“I thought ‘wait a second, that sounds familiar’. I clicked on it and there it was.
“Obviously Minpreet and her husband Arjan were over the moon. But they are in Holland now, so they couldn’t pick it up.”
After getting in touch with Matthew, he was asked to give details of the band’s inscription to prove his claim was genuine.
Sandy added: “The couple told me Arjan had put the message ‘Two lives, one path’ on it.
“As soon as I said the code word, he said I could pick it up whenever I wanted.
“I told Minpreet I’d put it in the post as soon as possible, but she said ‘No! Don’t risk it!’ I’ve given it to a friend until they can pick it up.
“I have a lot of respect for Matthew. He didn’t ask for any reward and it’s not the first time he’s done something like this.
“He told me that in the past he’s found a wallet full of cash, which he advertised in the same way.
“He’s obviously a very decent guy.”
The couple are over the moon with the surprise find and plan to collect the precious jewellery when they’re back in the capital next month.
“Unreal”
Mrs Jongkees, 26, said: “When I got the email to say they’d found a ring similar to mine I didn’t want to get my hopes up at first, but then it became clear they’d got it.
“It was unreal and I couldn’t believe that so many coincidences had brought it back to me.
“I hadn’t replaced the ring after losing it.
“I decided last week that there was no point in getting another one because no ring could compare to it.
“We’re hoping to come back to Edinburgh in August for the Festival, so I’ll probably pick it up then.”
