A British pensioner’s holiday in Dubai took an unexpected turn when his wedding ring, worn for more than half a century, vanished in the sea.
Visiting from the United Kingdom, Chris Brightmore, 75, travelled from Cleethorpes to visit his daughter, Sarah, and her family, with his wife, Kathy. He was swimming at Kite Beach in Jumeirah, when the treasured ring slipped from his finger.
“The sea was lovely and warm, so I decided to take a swim,” recalled Mr Brightmore, a retired policeman. “As I was swimming back to the beach, my wedding ring fell off in about 8ft (2.4m) of water – this was the first time the ring had been off my finger in 51 years.”
Despite immediate dives, the ring was nowhere to be seen. “I said a little prayer while I was swimming around. For some reason, I said to myself, ‘I am going to find this ring’,” he explained.
Mr Brightmore confessed to bracing himself for a telling-off from his wife, but instead, he said Kathy was ‘kindness personified’ and spent the next hour searching with him. “Without face masks and snorkels, it was impossible. Exhausted, we finally conceded defeat.”
His son-in-law, Philip Currie, suggested posting about the loss on the popular expatriate Facebook page ‘British Dads in Dubai’, which hosts more than 8,400 members and was founded by expatriate Chris Bradwell.
“We did, and the response was overwhelming,” Mr Brightmore said. Offers of help flooded in, including a loan of an underwater metal detector and an offer from a jeweller to create a free replacement. Mr Brightmore opted for the metal detector.
Two days later, armed with snorkels, masks and the detector, Mr Brightmore and Philip returned to Kite Beach. “We spent two hours diving to the seabed but the water was so buoyant that it was impossible to stay down long enough to search.”
Then, a chance encounter changed everything. Another couple approached, asking if Mr Brightmore was ‘the gentleman that has lost his wedding ring’.
“The man said, ‘Well, for someone who has been married that long and has never had the ring off his finger until now, it would be my honour to help you find it, if you would allow me’,” Mr Brightmore recounted. It transpired he was a former professional diver.
Equipped with ‘proper gear’, including a weighted belt, the diver joined the search. “After another two hours, Phil and I were convinced that the game was up, despite all our best efforts,” Mr Brightmore admitted.
“We were just climbing out of the water when our diver friend surfaced and shouted ‘Eureka!’” He was holding the ring. “He had detected it in about 10ft of water under three inches of sand. This was a miracle in the Arabian Gulf,” Mr Brightmore exclaimed. “I was delighted but, strangely, not surprised as I had, all along, the conviction that the ring would be found.”
Mr Brightmore, a former detective chief superintendent in London, retired to Louth after his son and family moved to Lincolnshire. He and Kathy later settled in Cleethorpes, an English seaside town in North East Lincolnshire.
The good news was shared on the British Dads page, prompting more than 200 responses. “People were saying how it had restored their faith in human kindness and how it was truly a miracle,” Mr Brightmore added.
Speaking exclusively to the GDN about his Facebook page assisting with the search, Mr Bradwell said: “When I saw the post about the gentleman who had lost his ring in the sea, I felt bad for him. But then I saw many members of the group offering to help. A few days later, another post appeared—they had collectively found it, which was amazing and showed how an incredible community can come together and solve any problem thrown at it.”
The family have also made an annual tradition when visiting their daughter and son-in-law; they all record a Dubai/UAE-themed cover/parody of a famous rock ’n’ roll song for their YouTube channel (Phil Currie). It started in 2021 with a cover of Chuck Berry’s ‘Back in the USA’ - ‘Back in the UAE’, followed by ‘Get Your Kicks on the E66’ in 2022 and ‘Dubai Man’ (parody of ZZ Top’s ‘Sharp Dressed Man’ in 2023.) This year Mr Brightmore chose to do a parody of ‘The Boy from New York’, aptly changed to ‘The Girl from Dubai City’. The original song was recorded by 1960’s soul group, the Ad-Libs and was also covered by British band, the Darts in the 1970s.
The family’s version features Mr Brightmore on lead vocals with wife, Kathy, on background vocals, along with daughter Sarah Currie and son-in-law Phil also on background vocal harmonies.
Sarah and Phil’s daughter, Yasmina Currie is shown in the video as ‘The Girl from Dubai City!’
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