Two of the couples married on the same day in 1955, the other just a week earlier.

Bev and John King and Noel and Joan Gill tied the knot on opposite sides of the Macleay River in Smithtown and Gladstone on April 23.

A week earlier, on April 16, Don and Dawn Cook married at the All Saints Anglican church in Kempsey.

The three couples are now members of the SWR Seniors and the Anglican Church congregation at the Rocks and are firm friends who share a special bond.

The group have shared friendships over the years that in some cases began in school, or were friends with another member of the group before meeting their future partner.

Bev King said her relationship with future husband john began over the telephone.

“We both worked for the Post Office, I was in Gladstone and John in Smithtown and we had to communicate for work,” she said.

“I fell in love with the voice before I met the man but I wasn’t disappointed when we finally got together.

John King said he went to great lengths to visit his sweetheart across the other side of the river.

“I was the ‘night boy’ manning the Smithtown exchange from late in the evening until early in the morning and Bev was across the river in Gladstone, this was in the days before the bridge.

“I used to row my boat across the river to see her.”