The Ring That Took 60 Years to Find

On a recent trip out to an antiques centre in Lancashire, Robin and his wife Anne found a smoky topaz ring at the back of a dusty cabinet near enough identical to one Anne had admired, and Robin had promised to find her, sixty years earlier. Anne plans to wear it every day.

Robin lives at New Springfield Care Home in Blackburn and Anne visits every day. They have been married for 55 years and spend five minutes with them and you can see how close they still are.

They met through the Scouts in southern Africa. Anne was a Cub Scout Leader, Robin a Troop Scout Leader. They were in different groups. Anne's with connections to Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, and Robin's from the Western Cape. What got them talking was noticing they were wearing the same red and yellow scarf.

Back then they had a close mutual friend called Joyce, the Cub Scout Commissioner. Joyce was something like a mother to both of them, and they shared a lot of happy times together. She has since passed away, though Anne and Robin are still good friends with her daughter.

Joyce wore a smoky topaz ring. Anne always admired it and mentioned to Robin that she'd love one like it. He never forgot.

Anne joined Robin and the New Springfield Wellbeing Team on a recent trip to Bygone Times, an antiques and collectables centre in Lancashire. Loved ones are always welcome on our trips out and an afternoon somewhere new made a change of scene for both of them.

They were looking round the cabinets together when something caught their eye, tucked right at the back. It was in the shadows and thick with dust. Most people would have walked past it.

It was the ring.

"I always said I'd find her one," Robin said.

He wasn't about to pay the £180 asking price without a go at bargaining. He got the dealer down to £140 and was very pleased with himself for the rest of the afternoon.

"I never thought I'd see one like it again," Anne said. "Every time I look at it I think of Joyce. She was like a mother to us both."

Afternoons like this one are part of how we support people at New Springfield. Familiar objects like a bike, a toy, a piece of jewellery often prompt stories and conversation which is why reminiscence is such a well-established part of our care and this includes getting out into the community and doing it alongside the people who matter most to you.

Andrea, Wellbeing Lead at New Springfield, was with Anne and Robin on the trip.

"Little things can spark such memories. You never know what you're going to find and you certainly can't plan a moment like that one."

We can organise the minibus and pick the destination. What happened at that cabinet belonged to Anne and Robin.

It took Robin 60 years to keep his promise. After 55 years of marriage, some things really are worth waiting for.

Residents at New Springfield Care Home in Blackburn take weekly trips out into the community on their onsite minibus and are now now welcoming new residents for compassionate residential, dementia, nursing, and respite care.