The Blacktown couple, who are 68, remarried last year  after 41 years of separation.

Their four children, Teena, Debbie, John and Vicki, joined them and assorted grandchildren and great-grandchildren at a family barbecue.

``It was fantastic, having all the four kids together for the first time,'' Mr Cronan said.

Mrs Cronan said: ``It was great, people everywhere, we loved it.''

The couple also have 15 grandchildren and 21 great-grandchildren.

They first wed in 1957, but divorced eight years later.

Mr Cronan married and divorced again and Mrs Cronan remarried but was later widowed.

A chance meeting in 2005 brought them together again and they soon found their old feelings returning.

They remarried on May 13, 2006  their original wedding anniversary.

``It was hard in the beginning, because we were only young when we first got married,'' Mrs Cronan said.

Mr Cronan said: ``I'd lived on my own for most of the time and I was pretty set in my ways.''

But they are determined to make it work second time around, particularly when their children are so excited.

``They were over the moon,'' Mr Cronan said.

Mrs Cronan said: ``They just loved it, when we said we were getting back together.''

Mr Cronan said he now thought of himself as one of the luckiest men alive.

``You can't buy these feelings,'' he said. ``Having Barbara back and my four children.

``Things I never expected.''