Fast forward to 2017 and the Cornforths have celebrated their 60^th wedding anniversary.

Fay said trust, love and sharing everything were the keys to successful marriage.

“We are completely opposite but we get together and agree,” she said.

Tom says the past 60 years went too quickly.

“I just think it’s a case of being your own personality but working together to find the best solutions to life generally,” he said about a happy marriage.

Tom recalls Fay as lovely and very well presented at the dance when they first met, while Fay remembers Tom as very nice when he walked in with his mates.

They started going out within a fortnight of meeting.

Their engagement followed about six months later.

Tom and Fay married at Punchbowl on February 23, 1957 and spent their honeymoon at Shoal Bay.

They settled down in Sydney and had three children – Jacqualine, Michael and Jamie.

Tom’s job involved travel which often left Fay at home to look after the children.

The couple called Sydney, Armidale and the Gold Coast home over the years before being drawn to Port Macquarie.

Tom and Fay’s family has expanded to include seven grandchildren.

Tom, 80, and 79-year-old Fay celebrated their 60^th wedding anniversary with friends and family at Port Macquarie Surf Life Saving Club at Flynns Beach on February 25.

Extended family and old and new friends blended together for the once in a lifetime event.

Many old connections were renewed with both family and friends.