I have been detecting since 1978 and started on Bangor beach in Northern Ireland where I was stationed just down the road. The beach was full of coins as I must have been one of a very few detecting in that area at that time. I left the hobby until I returned to civvy street and in the late 1980's I purchased a new White's Eagle 2 SL90.

I was amazed at what I was finding with this motion detector as my other earlier detector was of a non-motion design. I have been lucky enough to find a few items on my wish list of finds, but have still quite a few left on that list.

Of course, I still use a White's detector (although I have experimented with quite a few other makes). After moving through the Spectrums I now use an XLT. I managed to get one of the first available in the UK although my detecting mate James Galbraith managed to obtain a demo model thereby beating me to them.

I introduced my son Matthew to the hobby in August of this year. We decided to go to a field which I hadn't been on before just outside the town near where I live in Lincolnshire. Fields nearby had produced various artefacts, hammered coins and Roman bronze and silver coins, so we were expectant of what we were going to discover.

Off we went Matthew, Peter Mallett, my detecting partner, and myself. Peter went to the bottom of the field and me and Matthew went in the opposite direction. After only 20 minutes I found a long cross penny, "Not bad going", I thought. I pointed Matthew towards a flat plateau part of the field suggesting that it looked a promising place to detect and I continued to climb the hill.

Matthew decided to follow me, nothing further was found so I decided to head for the area I'd suggested to Matthew earlier. As I reached the centre of the flat area, I received a signal so I pushed my spade into the soil and from about six inches I picked up a lump of soil and saw sticking out of the side of it a shiny gold coin.