by Cathy Parham
A METAL detectorist from Coombe Dingle who found a silver locket has managed to trace its owner.
Mark Willcox put out an appeal on social media after uncovering the piece of jewellery in a field in South Gloucestershire.
The locket was covered in mud but Mark managed to open it to discover a “wet soggy picture” of a woman in her thirties wearing a baker’s boy hat, which he thought was from the 1970s.
But it turned out the picture was more recent. It was of Carla Bamonte, who ran a boutique clothing shop in Clifton Village Arcade called Bamonte, and was probably taken about two decades ago.
The photo was put in the locket by Carla’s daughter Sophie, who was then about eight or nine years old, and she lost it in the fields near Wickwar.
The mystery was solved by a relative of Carla and Sophie’s, Gary Stone, who had met Mark on an archaeological dig. He put Mark in touch with the mother and daughter, who live in Alberta, Canada.
Carla said: “We were so surprised and stunned. We knew the picture was me and then I knew that it must have been Sophie who had lost it,.
“Sophie remembered losing the pendant some 20 years ago and she and her brother Bow and cousin Gemma spent hours looking for it in the fields all around.
“The pendant was found in the field next to Sophie’s grandad’s house, with the huge hollow oak tree in it where they often played,”
Sophie, a mother of two, soon to be three, “was delighted when I contacted her. It’s such a sweet outcome for Sophie to get the locket back after so many years. And what is lovely is that we are all back in touch with Gary again”, said Carla.
Carla lived in The Paragon, Clifton, for 22 years before moving to Canada 15 years ago. She is due to visit the UK soon so plans to meet up with Mark to collect the locket.
Mark is delighted to have found the owner. He said he hadn’t dared remove the photo from the locket to check for a name as it is “very small – smaller than a thumbnail – and very fragile,” and was keen to preserve the photo for its rightful owner rather than risking it disintegrating.
Mark, who says he has been detectoring on and off since age 12, has found a wealth of booty including three wedding rings this year alone, a man’s chain with two of its three lost charms and, his biggest find to-date, 6,500 Roman coins.