The thought of losing a treasured item is enough to make anyone upset.

Richard Hannah, from Bo'ness, was heartbroken when he lost his wedding ring while on holiday in Lyme Regis.

Richard, a fire chief for an oil company in Abu Dhabi, and his wife, Elizabeth, spent the last day of their holiday having a paddleboarding session on Charmouth beach.

It was then he noticed his ring was missing.

Richard said: "On leaving the water, I discovered that I had lost my wedding ring. Having been married for 10 years, I was gutted at this discovery.

"Knowing the water to have been more than six feet deep in some of the places I had fallen off, I knew deep down that the ring was most likely lost forever."

Esther Wyatt, owner of Jurassic SUP and Fitness, gave the couple their paddleboarding lesson.

Esther said: "I felt enormous guilt that he lost it while I was teaching him on the water. Richard and his wife had enjoyed the session so much and it was such a disappointing end."

After being advised to wait until low tide, Richard and Liz continued to search for the ring, with aid from council workers Alan and Terry, as well as someone visiting the beach with a metal detector.

The search for the ring happened to coincide with the BBC's Beach Live.

Richard said: "The BBC were busy filming and we got a funny look from Dan Snow as he passed the three of us staring at the ground and not watching the filming like the many others."

After an unsuccessful search, Richard returned home, taking to Facebook to search for metal detecting and treasure hunter pages.

He managed to contact Stewart Thompson from Yeovil, a member of the National Ring Recovery Service group.

As Stewart headed to Charmouth, Liz received a call saying that the ring had been found.

Nine-year-old Oscar Scott-Smith had found the ring whilst fossil hunting with his dad, Ian, and his brother.

Ian said: "Oscar and I went for a couple of days camping and fossil hunting as our schools (I'm a teacher) broke up before my wife's.

"Our first evening on the beach was spent by the heritage centre. We split up to search for fossils and compared our finds at the end of the day.

"My bad had a handful of ammonites and belemnites. Oscar said: "I didn't find any fossils, but I did find this" and showed me Richard's wedding ring.

"We discussed it and agreed we'd try to find the owner."

Ian put the ring away and put out a Facebook appeal to reunite it with its owner.

Unfortunately for Stewart, he could not be the one to say he found the ring.

Richard said: "The people of Lyme Regis and the surrounding area have been amazing.

"From Esther at Jurassic SUP and Fitness, to Alan and Terry at the council beach supervisors office, to the members of the various local metal detecting groups who were willing to give up their own time to help a total stranger.

"And last of all, of course, to Oscar Scott-Smith and his dad, Ian, who went above and beyond to try and find me to ensure I could get my ring back. To them all, I say a massive 'thank you.'"

Ian said: "It was a great experience and Oscar and I are really happy to have had a part in such a positive outcome. I'm really proud of him for finding the ring in the first place, but also for wanting to do the right thing and reunite it with the owner."