![John and Anne Kerrison celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary last week. Photo: Supplied John and Anne Kerrison celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary last week. Photo: Supplied](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/ruby.pascoe/be09a24a-f6ad-46b3-80b0-6208f85f6709.jpg/r0_0_2500_1667_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Hat Head residents John and Anne Kerrison have celebrated 60 years of marriage on October 1.
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Big plans for the diamond anniversary were thrown into disarray when travel to Sydney and large crowds became impossible due to COVID-19 social distancing rules.
However, the family were able to organise a small gathering in Hat Head to commemorate the occasion, although it was a far cry from the wedding celebration on October 1 1960 at St Mels Catholic Church in Campsie.
The church was crowded with family and friends, many of them from the Macleay Valley where 21-year-old Anne called home.
Anne Wheelahan grew up in Mungay Creek where her father Joseph was a successful dairy farmer.
She met John Kerrison while playing social tennis in Sydney in 1958. It wasn't long before John proposed and the couple established a family in Concord.
![Anne and John on their wedding day on October 1 1960 Anne and John on their wedding day on October 1 1960](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/ruby.pascoe/203d0556-8131-4bf0-a6a7-14c3623469c5.jpg/r0_0_1667_2497_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The couple raised seven children together and have enjoyed 60 years of a happy marriage.
Retirement has brought them back to the rolling countryside and beaches of the Macleay Valley.
When asked about the key to a happy marriage Anne said a couple should always have a sense of humour.
"It also doesn't hurt if you learn to say yes," John said.
"And Anne is never wrong."
John gave a short speech at the socially distanced Diamond Anniversary celebration, declaring he was as much in love now as the day Anne walked down the aisle.