21 December 2011

WHEN divers Ian Darkins and Jonathan Pearce submerge themselves in the Thames, they expect to find old bicycles, Victorian bottles, traffic cones and shopping trolleys.

So imagine how surprised they were when the two members of High Wycombe Sub Aqua Club swam upon a selection of church brass they later discovered had been submerged for 40 years.

Despite searching for 18 months, they could not find the original owner of their finds – two large candlesticks and an altar cross, so they have donated them to St Paul’s Church, West Wycombe.

Ian said: “They had been in there a while and were all broken up, but I recognised them as something that looked unusual compared to what we usually find. We usually find everything and anything down there – lots of junk and Victorian bottles, all sort so of peculiar things.

“We chose that church because I went to school in West Wycombe. It’s usually unlocked so you can go in and out and I like that, and I know the vicar a little bit.”

Vicar of St Paul’s, the Revd Nigel Lacey, said: “We are delighted to have them. They are Victorian pieces of brass and they sit nicely in St Paul’s Church.”