60 years after kissing the girl

John and Shirley Haddow celebrate 60 years of marriage today. Photo / Michael Cunningham

Sixty years together and Onerahi couple Shirley and John Haddow feel "blessed" to have found each other all those years ago.

The couple will celebrate their diamond wedding anniversary today - just as much in love as the day they married - with family and friends.

Mr Haddow recalled their first meeting in their Surrey hometown "very well indeed", and no wonder, given he got to kiss his bride-to-be within hours of meeting her.

"We met at a New Year's party at Shirley's home when we were 15," Mr Haddow said.

"For some reason I'd been invited and her mother had set up various games. In one of them the winner got to kiss the girl in the middle of the circle - that ended up being me."

Six years of courtship followed.

"I think that very long courtship gave us a very thorough knowledge of each other, there were no surprises," Mr Haddow said.

The couple married in 1955, spending the first three years of marriage in an 18-foot caravan "that did us very well", said Mr Haddow, who was a forestry worker at the time.

But with baby number two on the way, Mrs Haddow put the word in it was time to move to a bigger place.

Coming to New Zealand with their two children in 1972, the couple went on to adopt twin boys after Mrs Haddow found she couldn't have any more children. They'd always felt "four would be the perfect number".

They now also boasted five grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren, some of whom would gather today for a 60th wedding anniversary lunch at Whangarei Heads, though a bigger celebration was planned for the end of January, as Mrs Haddow was currently recovering from a back operation.

When asked what the secret to their success is, Mr Haddow said "a wise man always defers to his wife".

Mrs Haddow said while she and her husband had shared interests, they in fact were like "chalk and cheese", which she thought had worked in their favour.

Her husband elaborated: "We were both blessed to be born into stable families and had very good parents who set a good example. We both went to Sunday School so Christian values helped too."