Year: 1954 - 1957
Occupation: Economist

After completing his university study David joined the treasury and worked his way up to Divisional Director Economic Policy and then Social Services Policy. He spent three years with the International Monetary Fund in Washington DC. In 1980 he was awarded a Visiting Fellowship at Victoria University in Wellington. He then spent 4 years in Paris as NZs Deputy Permanent representative to the OECD after which he returned to the Treasury and in the mid 1980s worked on Taxation and Benefit Reform and Social Service Policy. In the 1990s he moved to the Department of Social Welfare and rose to general manager of the social policy agency.

Year: 1954 - 1956
Occupation: Ballet Dancer

Sir Jon Trimmer has been a mainstay of the Royal New Zealand Ballet for 50 of the company’s 53 years. J on started dancing at the age of 12. He spent a year with the then New Zealand Ballet, before studying at the Royal Ballet School in 1959. He danced with both The Australian Ballet and the Royal Danish Ballet. He has performed with Dame Margot Fonteyn, Rudolf Nureyev, Erik Bruhn and many of the world’s top dancers. Career highlights include being nominated for the best actor award in the Fireraiser television series (1986) and dancing the title role in Petrouchka, and the role of Albrecht in Giselle. The last 20 years have seen Sir Jon performing mainly character roles with the RNZB, alongside dramatic roles in television and stage plays. In 2004 he toured New Zealand with the play Meeting Karpovsky. Sir Jon was awarded Television Performer of the Year in 1971, received an MBE in 1974, recieved a Fulbright Scholarship in 1981, and in 1986 was the third recipient of the Turnovsky Award. He received a knighthood in 1999 for services to ballet. To celebrate Sir Jon’s 50th anniversary with the Royal New Zealand Ballet he took to the stage last year as “The Don” in Don Quixote.

Year: 1952 - 1954
Occupation: Artist

Raymond is the best drawer of birds NZ and possibly the world has ever seen. He painted 240 illustrations for the R.D. Book of British Birds, (1969) which, translated into 11 languages and still in print, is the most successful book on birds published in Europe. He has published over ten books of birds and his drawings and paintings are exhibited in the major galleries of NZ. Raymond lives in England and wrote this when asked for his Bio: I had always enjoyed the status of best drawer in our house (no competition, really) and so I was altogether unprepared for the display of draftsmanship shown us in demonstration on the first day at Wellington Tech. Those inspirational marks were made by Fred Ellis who was, to my great good fortune, Head of the Department of Art at that time, and the wonder of seeing such drawing skills has never left me. His contemporaries regard him as the greatest painter of birds ever.

Year: 1951 - 1955
Occupation: Civil Engineer & Community leader

Bruce was an engineer and ended his career as managing-director of TSE Group of which he was a founding partner. He left his mark on national and international projects, among them ventures in Australia, China and Vietnam. He was involved in a wide range of community groups and the Greek community. As president of the Greek Community of Wellington he was instrumental in the construction of community rooms in Hania St, which to this day serve as classrooms for the community’s Greek language school. He was author of Wellington’s Hellenic Mile, detailing the history of Wellington’s Greek-owned eateries. As chairman of the New Zealand Parthenon Marbles Committee, he led the petition that convinced the government to declare that the Elgin Marbles, housed in the British Museum, should be returned to Greece. In 2004 Bruce received the Queen’s Service medal in recognition of his services to the community.

Year: 1951 - 1955
Occupation: Actor, Artist & Teacher

Grant has extensive successful experience over 50 years in theatre, radio, television and film as an actor, director, designer and scriptwriter. He was a Senior Tutor at the New Zealand Drama School, co-founder and Council Member of Circa Theatre, Wellington and associate Director, Downstage Theatre, Wellington Grant has won numerous awards, the most recent in 2007 Actor of the year for his role on Homeland. He has been in more than 200 productions , including Middle Age Spread or Foreskin’s Lament, seven short films, over forty TV series; Gliding on, Shark in the Park. Grant Tilly is a household name. He is also an artist of some repute.