Festival finds show detectorist's mettle
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A METAL detectorist who combs the Belladrum Festival site for remnant tent pegs for refugees has discovered the camping ground is also a graveyard for lost wedding rings.
Eric Soane (80) found two wedding rings during his annual scour and no fewer than eight couples have stepped forward to reclaim them, amongst them Michelle and Graham Robertson from Dumfries and Galloway who were “delighted” to be reunited with Graham’s 18 carat white gold band lost mid-festival several years ago.
Belladrum promoter Joe Gibb said: “Belladrum is a popular wedding venue so we are really delighted that Eric has reunited Michelle with her husband’s wedding ring.”
However, Mr Soane has not yet matched the other ring, a woman’s intricately-carved gold wedding band, to its rightful owner. The retired social worker hailed for finding the north’s biggest hoard of Roman coins at the festival site during his tent peg search several years ago, said he was whittling down responses.
The pensioner, from Tornagrain, uses a high-quality metal detector to find as many tent pegs as he can for the Highland Supports Refugees charity, which has a major support base in Ross-shire.
He spends weeks at a time rooting around the festival field with his high-quality American-made metal detector to find as many tent pegs as he can for the charity.
Its volunteers also go around after the gig gathering up the abandoned tents, sleeping bags, welly boots and folding chairs to wash and transport to wherever they are needed.
Last year, they started with Turkey and Chios in Greece, where volunteers said refugees first landed from dinghies.
He also searches the playing fields of local schools to boost their coffers by handing back all the coins his machine detects.
Primaries which have benefited from his efforts in the past include Kiltearn, Obsdale and Marybank.
