Photos and stories are being collected ahead of Hutt Hospital's 70th birthday on 15 May.
Wendy Eyles, a member of the hospital's 70th anniversary organising committee, submitted this photo to the Hutt News with a request for anyone who recognises the nursing students pictured to step forward - and the plea for help was successful.
Margaret Perkinson (nee Neill), who still lives in Lower Hutt, identified herself and classmates Monica Dolan (nee Butler) and Margaret Sherry (nee Burns).
“The girls had just come off a morning shift and returned to the nurse’s home where they were asked to pose with the paintings for an Evening Post photographer,” she said.
Nearly 60 years on, students from Ms Perkinson's class still meet every two years for a catch-up, along with other classes from the same time period.
Margaret Sherry now lives in Papamoa and Monica Dolan resides in Temuka.
Ms Perkinson was still working at Hutt Hospital in the 1980s as a personnel officer. She has fond memories of climbing back in first floor windows of the nurses home after curfew and the close bonds formed with fellow student nurses that flourished into lifelong friendships.
There will be a 70th anniversary Nurses Reunion Dinner on Saturday May 17th at Trentham Gardens. All past and present nursing staff welcome. To register your interest in attending, download the registration form and return it to Wendy Eyles at rweyles@paradise.net.nz, or phone Wendy on 970 6262.
