Matt Kneebone

Matt Kneebone has been nominated for the Bailiwick Community Hero award

Metal detectorist Matt Kneebone has been nominated for Bailiwick Community Hero after years of using his childhood hobby to help islanders recover lost valuables.

He started scavenging local beaches with his metal detector from the age of 12 and after some time away from his interest during his adolescence, he picked it back up when his friend lost a ring at Cobo.

His nominator found herself in the same situation and said Mr Kneebone was a hero.

'Matt literally saved my soul the day he found my mum’s lost rings on the beach. The day I lost those rings my world fell apart as my mum had only died a couple months prior to this,’ said Tessa Le Gallez.

Mr Kneebone has become well known across the island for his retrieval skills, mainly for lost jewellery and works solely on a voluntary basis.

‘Whenever anyone asks to give me money I say no because I just do it because I enjoy it and to see people’s faces when reunited with their items,’ he said. 

‘If I am offered anything I ask them to donate it to the Kidney Foundation as I had a transplant in 2017.’

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