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Jubilant groom who lost wedding ring in a river finds cherished band - 24 hours later

Richard Ford's cherished ring slipped off his finger as he paddled with friends, and he only realised when he'd traveled half a mile down the River Tame

Jubilant groom Richard Ford is reunited with his wedding ring - a whole day after he lost it paddleboarding on a river.

Richard's cherished platinum band slipped off his finger as he paddled with friends, and he only realised when he'd traveled half a mile down the River Tame.

After spending 24 hours scouring the bottom of the Staffordshire river, Richard thought he'd lost the precious ring forever.

But when friends miraculously found the ring under a riverside rock, they decided to play a cheeky prank on Richard as he continued the hunt.

Neil Myers filmed Richard, 30, frantically searching for the ring lying face-down on his paddleboard while scouring the riverbed last month.

Neil can be heard saying: 'Rich, what is it you're doing? Get your head out the bucket, you look like a right c**k.

'What is it you're looking for? Does it look like that?'

He then produces the ring to a stunned Richard who leaps up from his paddleboard and throws his arms in the air shouting 'yes' in celebration.


The 1.37 minute clip then shows Richard putting the ring back on his finger before saying: 'Thank you, I'm indebted to you forever. I'm getting out.'

Richard, a joiner from Tamworth, said: 'We were on the river when I realised it was missing.


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'I was devastated – I'm not into jewellery, but it is so special to me, it felt like I had lost part of my soul.

'That afternoon three of us went out with snorkels and searched for hours and hours, but we couldn't find it.


'Someone had been taking photos and by checking them all, managed to pinpoint the area where I lost the ring, as in one shot I was wearing it and the next I wasn't.

'So on the Monday night a group volunteered to help me look again.

'I was desperate to find it. I hollowed out a bucket and put perspex in the bottom of it and I lay face-first on my paddleboard with a T-shirt around my head and my head in the bucket looking into the water.


'Neil shouted me and said: 'Richard, what are you looking for. I looked up, head still in the bucket and said: 'my wedding ring'.

'He said: 'like this one?' I couldn't believe it, I really didn't think I'd see it again, it was a million to one chance.


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'The video is hilarious and I can't thank Neil enough or the other club members, they were great.'

Last month newly-wed Eirian Evans, 29, from Cardiff, was stunned when a scuba diver found his wedding ring at the bottom of the Great Barrier Reef after he lost it on honeymoon.