‘End of an era’ — reunion for Palmerston North Hospital’s final nursing class of ’86

February 27, 2026

Palmerston North Hospital’s last cohort of hospital-trained registered nurses graduated in May 1986 and are having a reunion this May. Were you there? Even if you didn’t complete your training?

The last class of hospital-trained registered nurses (RNs) from Palmerston North  graduated in May 1986 and we are holding our 40th reunion on Saturday May 23 2026.

We are trying to find as many of our graduates and also those who started training with us but did not complete.

It literally was the ‘end of an era’ for our training of nurses, as we were the last class who went through this system of training.

I wrote ‘The Right Girls‘,  which featured in Kaitiaki a couple of years ago,  about the history of training at Palmerston North Hospital. I also run a Facebook page about the nursing history of Palmerston North Hospital.

Please get in touch with Wendy Maddocks [email protected] to register your interest.

Wendy Maddocks

Christchurch