Twerton postman answers prayers of woman 'brokenhearted' at loss of precious family heirloom

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Steve Anderson knocked on her door just as she was praying to St Anthony, the patron saint of lost things

Steve Anderson may well be the nicest postie ever.

One of his regulars had been praying to St Anthony to find a lost family heirloom when he knocked on the door.

The 82-year-old resident had been expecting nothing more than a bill or letter but Mr Anderson asked a question that made her realise her prayers had been answered.

“Have you lost a ring?” he inquired politely.

That moment on the doorstep of the Bath lady's home ended a search that began for both of them ten days beforehand.

Mr Anderson, who has been a postman in the city for the past 15 years, had been doing his rounds when he saw something “sparkly out of the corner of his eye”.

Bending down to see what it was, the married father-of-one from Twerton discovered a small ring in the gutter.

Unsure if it was costume jewellery or something more valuable, he took it to a jewellers’ who told him it had a likely insurance value between £2,000 and £3,000.

Determined, then, to find its owner, Mr Anderson tried appealing for information on Facebook before going door-knocking in the area where he found it. He left notes and even asked the local vicar to put up a notice.

Meanwhile, the Bath woman, who wishes to remain anonymous for insurance purposes, had been pulling her house apart trying to find a precious family heirloom.

The sapphire and diamond eternity ring had been left to her by her late Godmother, who had looked after her as a schoolgirl in Bath while her parents were in Africa.

Its loss ten days before had left her “heartbroken”.

“Its beauty and the stones were only a small part of its value to me,” she said of the small ring.

“Its sentimental value is incalculable.”

So she was overcome with relief when Mr Anderson turned up at her door.

He, in turn, was doubly glad he had made the effort to track down the owner as he watched her describe the lost ring.

“You could see it meant so much to her,” he said. “She was starting to get a little teary.”

Mr Anderson returned the precious item to her later that day when his day’s work was done.

The grateful owner said: “How fortunate that my ring should come into the hands of such a person and it is now even more precious because it carries with it such an amazing memory.”

Mr Anderson said he was so pleased to be able to return the ring. “It’s one of those things you feel so good about," he said.


“I knew I had to do my best to find the owner.

“It was always in my head that it was the right thing to do."