Worthing woman seeks help to find late mother’s cherished ring
A Worthing resident is appealing to the community after losing a sentimental, gold signet, ring that belonged to her late mother.
Sharon Herring said her mother, Monica, was gifted the ring from her own parents when she was 18 – after she had been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Monica survived two further bouts of cancer but died from the disease at the age of 56, leaving behind her two children.
"The ring is one of very few items I have left of her,” Sharon said. “It was worn by my mother all her life and you can imagine the distress I feel at losing it.”
The ring went missing on Monday, March 23.
Sharon explained: “I had taken all of my rings off while I was doing DIY and they were in my pocket. I travelled to Worthing tip and the Lyons Farm area and I had forgotten to take them out of my pocket and leave them at home.
"I suspect they fell out of my pocket, at some point.”
Sharon has retraced her steps and contacted local shops, with posters put up at Currys, B&Q, and Worthing Recycling Centre.
She has also searched the West Worthing area, near Princess Avenue.
The lost ring was attached to a leather bracelet with a magnetic silver clasp and two other silver rings.
Sharon has offered a £100 reward for the gold signet’s safe return but added that it has ‘unmeasurable sentimental value’.
She added: “It’s priceless to me and I can’t put into words the distress of its loss.”
Anyone who may have found the ring is asked to contact the Worthing Herald, to help reunite Sharon with this cherished family heirloom. If you can help, please email [email protected].
A tribute to Monica was published by a community-run London newspaper, after her death, in 2003.
The Archer’s report read: “One of East Finchley’s most well known residents, Monica Herring, passed away on 30 April at the age of 56. Familiar to many of us as the ‘lollipop lady’ outside Martin School, she also worked for 14 years as meals supervisor in the Infant School.
“Monica lived all her life in Richmond Road, in the house where she was born. Speaking to THE ARCHER a few years ago, she remembered roller-skating down the middle of Long Lane – typical for a tomboy and a sports-mad lady, who, only weeks before she died, completed the North London Hospice Walk in her wheelchair.
"Shortly before that, as a patient in the National Hospital for Neurological Diseases, she had done some brisk laps round Queen Square.”
The newspaper article noted that when Monica was told she had cancer in her teens, she was given two years to live and would be unable to have children. She proved the medical professionals wrong on both counts.