A SALFORD woman is appealing for help to find a missing wedding ring that belonged to her late father.
Joy Shaw, 62, believes she lost the ring at Manchester Fort retail park on Tuesday afternoon and has, so far, had no luck in recovering it.
The ring belonged to her father, Thomas White, who passed away in 1989 after battling Parkinson’s disease, and was also used by her husband Ash, 59, on their own wedding day.
Joy had been wearing the ring herself after Ash was diagnosed with cancer in 2015 and was unable to wear the ring as he gained weight due to problems with his thyroid.
“We went to the Fort to get coffee in the afternoon and then went in a couple of shops and when I got home I went to get changed and take my jewellery off and I didn’t have it on,” said Joy.
“It’s certainly not in the house because I’ve looked everywhere.
“You don’t lose things on purpose. I’ve looked in my bag, I’ve looked where I’ve been sitting, I’ve looked in every door I went in.
“I’ve been back to Manchester Fort and I’ve asked at security, who were very helpful, and given my name and address there in case somebody hands it in and I’ve been to all the shops that I was in yesterday, they’ve all taken my phone number and name.”
A plain gold band, the ring has no jewels or inscriptions and is of immense sentimental value to the couple as it was initially bought as a present for her father by her mother, Emily.
“It’s 50 years old and not something you’d mistake for an ordinary ring. They didn’t get married with it because at the time when my Mam and Dad got married they didn’t wear rings,” Joy explained.
“But as they got older my Mother thought it would be nice to get him one for some special occasion – it must’ve been an anniversary – and she bought him a wedding ring and he wore it until the day he died.
“My parents didn’t have anything. They didn’t even have a bank account or anything, so the only things I inherited from my parents were their wedding rings. Those two things are the only things that I have apart from memories and a few photos.”
Both rings were used by Joy and Ash’s when they got married back in 2010, but Ash could no longer wear his after being diagnosed with neck cancer on Christmas Eve in 2015.
The treatment included a laryngectomy in which his voice box and thyroid were removed, leaving him breathing and speaking through a valve in his neck.
Speaking of the ordeal, Joy shed some light on Ash’s recovery: “It changes everything. We’ve been through such a lot this last year.
“He’s recovering well, but that’s the sad thing, really, because that ring means a lot to both of us and he wants to get back to normal. He’s losing weight now, he’s getting a lot better and he wants to start wearing it [the ring] again.
“I put it on Facebook and I’m just hoping that if somebody does find it they won’t keep it, that their conscience will think “this is somebody’s wedding ring.”
“In terms of what you would get for gold, it’s nothing. In terms of what it means to me – it’s a huge thing.”
If you find the ring, or have any information with regards to its whereabouts, please email t.g.woods@edu.salford.ac.uk.
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