London and Sarnia
The chain was on for the first game of the tournament and gone by the final whistle
Your team's schedule for the day works as a map of where to look.
Most of a tournament day is spent on a few fields and one patch of grass beside them, and that is what makes a chain lost at North London Athletic Fields or City Wide Sports Park worth a search. What decides it is whether you can name those fields and the spot where the bags waited, and when you last felt the chain round your neck.
Ring Seekers is a lost ring and jewellery recovery service that connects people who lost a ring, wedding band, watch, keys or phone in London, Sarnia or the towns near them with a metal detectorist who can search there.
Tell us what happened and where. We find a detectorist who can reach the field, the park or the beach, brief them with your map and photos, and tell you honestly if the odds are poor.
Renting a metal detector pays off on a small patch you can have to yourself, such as the lawn at home where the kit bags were emptied. A complex of soccer fields, or the Lake Huron sand at Canatara or Grand Bend, is work for a detectorist.
Before the team scatters
While everyone is still there, ask teammates to tip their kit bags out onto the grass and shake out the chairs and the team tent. Walk the edge of the field where they stood, and if the tournament has a lost and found, ask there.
Later, screenshot the schedule and write the field and your team's side next to each game. A group photo or a clip from the stands that shows the chain still on rules out every game before it.
Places we cover in London and Sarnia
- Your own backyard in London, Sarnia or nearby
- London
- North London Athletic Fields
- City Wide Sports Park
- Games and events at Western University
- Springbank Park
- Gibbons Park
- Greenway Park and its off-leash area
- Pottersburg-FIDO off-leash area
- Stoney Creek off-leash area
- Campbell Memorial Park off-leash area
- Fanshawe Conservation Area and Fanshawe Lake
- Westminster Ponds trails and boardwalks
- Sarnia
- Canatara Park, Canatara Beach and Lake Chipican
- Centennial Park, Sarnia
- Germain Park and its off-leash area
- Bright's Grove
- Kenwick on the Lake Park and Kenwick Park Beach
- Mike Weir Park and Mike Weir Park Beach
- Mandaumin Road Beach
- Grand Bend Beach
- Pinery Provincial Park beach, south of Grand Bend
London parks and fields, then the Lake Huron shore
Sports fields, river parks and dog parks in London, then the lakeshore from Sarnia to Grand Bend.
North London Athletic Fields and City Wide Sports Park
North London Athletic Fields on Adelaide Street North has full, mid-size and mini soccer fields, some with lights, along with baseball diamonds, beach volleyball courts and a cricket ground. City Wide Sports Park on Commissioners Road East has artificial turf soccer and football fields with lights.
Springbank Park and Gibbons Park on the Thames
The Thames Valley Parkway follows the Thames River through both parks. Springbank Park has mini soccer fields, a picnic shelter, a bandshell and Storybook Gardens. Gibbons Park, a short walk from downtown, lies right along the river, with grass and paved paths, a splash pad and tennis courts.
London's off-leash dog areas
Greenway, reached from Greenside Avenue off Springbank Drive, is fenced, with trails through a naturalized area. Pottersburg-FIDO is at Hamilton Road and Gore Road. Stoney Creek, on Adelaide Street North at Windermere Road, is fenced with open ground and trails. Campbell Memorial Park on Dundas Street East has a fenced off-leash area covered in woodchips.
Fanshawe Lake and Westminster Ponds, London
Fanshawe Conservation Area, on Clarke Road, lies around Fanshawe Lake, with picnic areas, a playground, sports fields, a boat launch across the dam and a trail right round the lake. Westminster Ponds, off Wellington Road, has trails and boardwalks through wetland and meadow. On a trail or boardwalk, say where you stopped.
Canatara Park and Canatara Beach, Sarnia
Canatara Beach, in Canatara Park, is nearly a kilometre long on Lake Huron, so say which stretch you were on. The city leaves natural debris such as driftwood and plant matter on the sand. The designated swim area has lifeguards, a Lifeguard Building and a rubber mat walkway, and there are volleyball courts on the beach. Behind the sand, trails run round Lake Chipican.
Centennial Park and Germain Park, Sarnia
Centennial Park on Front Street North has waterfront walking trails, a playground and a canoe and kayak launch into Sarnia Bay and the St. Clair River. Germain Park, entered from East Street, Bright Street or Germain Street, has soccer fields, baseball diamonds and a fenced off-leash dog area.
Bright's Grove beaches and parks
Kenwick on the Lake Park, on Lakeshore Road, is across the street from Bright's Grove Beach and has a pavilion, a gazebo and a splash pad. Mike Weir Park, also on Lakeshore Road, has beach access and a large open field. The city lists Kenwick Park Beach, Mandaumin Road Beach and Mike Weir Park Beach among its public beaches.
Grand Bend Beach and Pinery
Grand Bend Beach, on Main Street West, is owned and maintained by the Municipality of Lambton Shores. Along with the main beach there is a North and a South beach, and the pier, a beach boardwalk, the beach house and the Rotary Community Stage are all landmarks you can place yourself by. Just south, Pinery has a long sand beach on Lake Huron backed by dunes, with the Old Ausable Channel behind it for canoes and kayaks.
Our part, once you get in touch
Who answers
One person at Ring Seekers reads your WhatsApp messages, arranges the search and reports back on it. What a teammate remembers about the game can simply be forwarded.
Your schedule as the brief
The detectorist works from your marked-up schedule, your photos and a picture of the chain, so the search starts on the right field and the right side of it.
Missed days later
If the chain was only missed days afterwards, and you have played at other fields since, it is a long shot, and you would hear that from us first.
Costs, spelled out
We explain the costs before any search is booked, early in the conversation and well before anyone drives out to the field.
Fields, dog parks, sand and your own yard
What to tell us depends on the ground you were on.
Artificial turf or grass
Say whether each field was turf or grass, which bench was your team's and where along the edge the chairs and tent went up.
Lake Huron beaches
The Lifeguard Building at Canatara and the pier at Grand Bend are fixed points, and in Bright's Grove so is the beach access you came down. Count your footsteps from one of them to where the towel lay, and say whether you swam.
Your own yard
Tell us which part of the yard you were in and what you were doing, from hanging wet jerseys out to dry to lighting the barbecue, and whether the grass has been cut since.
Questions about London and Sarnia
Over a tournament weekend at North London Athletic Fields I moved from field to field, and somewhere my chain came off.
North London Athletic Fields has full, mid-size and mini soccer fields as well as diamonds, a cricket ground and beach volleyball courts, so name the field for each game. Mark the patch of grass where your bag and water bottle waited in between, and tell us whether you wore the chain inside or outside your shirt.
An earring went missing on Canatara Beach, where driftwood and plant matter lie along the sand.
The city leaves that natural debris on the beach on purpose. Tell us whether your towel was near a line of it, how close you were to the rubber mat walkway in the swim area, and whether you went in the water wearing the earring. Send a photo of the one that is left.
I coach under the lights at City Wide Sports Park, and when I packed up the balls and cones my watch was gone.
City Wide Sports Park has artificial turf soccer and football fields as well as hard ball diamonds with lights, so the first thing we need is which one you were on. Mark your bench, the corner where you ran drills and your route back to the parking lot. Tell us the make and the colour of the strap.
Walking the dog at the Pottersburg off-leash area, I realised my wedding band was gone.
The Pottersburg-FIDO area has a fenced part and an open section marked by boundary signs, both with trails, plus a separate area for small dogs. Say which part you used and which trail you walked. Mention the double gate too, since clipping and unclipping a leash there is a moment when a band can slip off.
My glasses fell off somewhere on a run through Springbank Park.
Springbank has concrete roads and paths with grassy areas beside them, and the Thames Valley Parkway passes through it. Trace your route on a map, from where you parked to where you turned round, and add any stops, for example at the bandshell or the picnic shelter. Describe the frames and send a picture of you wearing them.
Can you help with an Oura ring lost during a game at TD Stadium, Western University?
Yes, if it came off at a game or event you were at on campus. Western University hosts tournaments and events at TD Stadium and its other venues. Tell us which game it was, whether you were playing or watching, and which end and which bench or seats you were nearest. Send a photo of the ring.
We spent the day between the open field and the beach at Mike Weir Park in Bright's Grove, and my bracelet is gone.
Mike Weir Park has beach access, a large open field, a cricket pitch and a sheltered picnic area. Mark where you sat on the sand and where you spent time on the grass, and say whether you walked along the shore towards another beach.
My phone went into Lake Huron off the pier at Grand Bend.
Drop a pin as close as you can to where you were standing, and tell us which side of the pier it went in. Grand Bend Beach has a main beach as well as a North and a South beach, so say which one you walked out from. Tell us the phone model and what its case looks like.
London and Sarnia
Send the schedule and a photo of the chain
From a London soccer field to the pier at Grand Bend.
Write to us on WhatsApp with the tournament schedule or a pin on the beach, a photo of the chain or whatever else came off, and the day it happened.