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Chris is an experienced and successful professional with a strong mix of tertiary training, governance, leadership, airport project, operational and readiness management. He operates through his company, Airport Management Consultants Ltd (AMCL).   His career has spanned accountancy, ownership of a significant motor industry conglomerate and for 20 years leadership of the dynamic and complex environment of the 4th largest and highest growth airport in New Zealand, along with two associated local aerodromes.   Currently his role as an airport and aviation specialist in New Zealand and Australia includes project management (current and stranded projects), Civil Aviation Authority compliance including Aeronautical studies, business evaluation, strategic planning, master planning, business and retail plans, annual operational plans, financial and capex budgets and training. He also advises Human Resource (HR) companies on ‘the right fit’ for key aviation positions as well as evaluation of company staffing structure. He has given a wide range of advice to over fifteen airports around New Zealand and internationally to several Pacific Islands, Bahrain, Mildura Airport (Australia) and also the NASA Columbia Scientific Balloon Mission Launch Program at Wanaka airport.

Chris attended King’s High School from 1961 to 1966. In his time at Kings Chris gained School Certificate, University Entrance and Higher School Certificate.  He was on the Organising Committee of the Camera Club.

On leaving King’s Chris attended the University of Otago where he graduated with Bachelor of Commerce degree. Later his education continued at Massey University where he graduated with a Bachelor of Aviation degree majoring in Airport Planning and Operations. This led to a post grad Diploma in Aviation majoring in Airport Operational Management. He also holds a Pilot’s License.

Chris was a member of the New Zealand Institute of Accountants and was a Registered Chartered Accountant for 45 years.  For 35 years he was a member of the New Zealand Institute of Management. He was made an Associate Fellow of the Institute.

The Civil Aviation Authority recognise his work by granting him Senior Person status. He is s Life Member of the New Zealand Airports Association.

As a member of the Aviation Tourism and Travel Training Organisation Chris was running Service IQ courses. These courses offer top of the line training in the Aviation, Travel, Tourism, sectors. He was a Registered National Standards Training Officer and Assessor for these courses which produce well qualified, world-class service industry workers.

Chris has been very successful in his endeavours over the years. From 1970 until 1992 he was a Chartered Accountant and the principal and owner of a motor industry and financial group of Companies.  Then from 1992 until 2012 he was the General Manager and Chief Executive of the Queenstown Airport Corporation Ltd. This led to him being the Director of Airport Management Consultants Ltd (AMCL) from 2012 until 2024. During the period from 2017 to 2023 he was Airport Manager under contract to the New Zealand Ministry of Transport of the Milford Sound Airport.

There are a number of achievements that Chris has made since he has been involved with airports. He won awards for the New Zealand Airports of the Year, Project of the Year and Training Organisation of the year.  With Queenstown Airport he has maintained the status of the highest growth airport in Australasia.  He was involved with the establishment of the Board of New Zealand Airports where he has been an Executive Member and Life Member.  He also received a NASA Achievement Award for the Inaugural Balloon Mission at Wanaka New Zealand.

In 1979 Michael was awarded a General Excellence Prize in English, Science, Woodwork and Mathematics.

After leaving Kings Michael trained in the army, worked at Dunedin restaurant 95 Filleul, at Olivers, in Clyde, and in his own family restaurant, Stepping Out, in Alexandra.

He spent his early years a young chef willing to work hard and push his standards and understanding to the limit. His passion was never destroyed, despite being shouted at, threatened and even having a frozen leg of lamb thrown at him by a raging executive chef.  This style of kitchen management was commonly fuelled by stress, the demands or workload and customer expectations.

From 1986 to 1988 Michael attended the Otago Polytechnic studying for the City & Guilds of London Professional Foods Qualification.

Michael opened his own restaurant in 1992. It was described by ODT food writer and restaurant reviewer for Cuisine magazine Charmian as Dunedin’s “highest-profile” fine-dining restaurant. In 2010 after 18 years with Bell Pepper Blues he closed the restaurant to broaden his experience.

He worked as a consultant chef for Silver Fern Farms Ltd from January 2010 to- April 2017.  Michael has been a longtime Beef + Lamb New Zealand ambassador – he was now considered a platinum ambassador – and consultant with Silver Fern Farms.

He has also been a Chef, Brand Ambassador and Sales Marketing person for Provenance Meat (NZ) Ltd from April 2017 to the Present. Alongside this he has been a Consultant Chef for Kiwiharvest from January 2012 to the present.

He became Executive Chef at St Clair’s Pier 24 restaurant from 2011 to 2015. Then he became Executive Chef at Clyde’s Olivers restaurant in February 2015 to March 2016. He had spent more than 30 years as a chef, juggling his career and family, and felt it was time to put family first, with his youngest son in his final year at King’s High School where he was a prefect. He took the opportunity to move back to Dunedin when Pier24 reopened at Hotel St Clair from February 2016 to Jan 2017. While doing this he studied for the Batchelor of Culinary Arts at the Otago Polytechnic.

His career as a chef has been a 36-year journey of exploring and being challenged. In early 2017, after many years of front-line cooking in restaurant kitchens, he decided it was time to slow down and spend more time with his family. Michael decided to put some of his skills into the less demanding hours and work load at the Dunedin café, The Fix. Alongside his day job he worked as a freelance chef helping new ventures with tough stuff, such as staff and food control. Being a freelance chef, allowed him to concentrate on kitchen setups, costings and administration issues, along with working as a brand ambassador for various companies.
Michael is an experienced Chef with a demonstrated history of working in the hospitality industry. Skilled in Menu Engineering, Catering, Budgeting, Food & Beverage, and Analytical Skills. He is a strong consulting professional who graduated from Otago Polytechnic.

He had developed his distinctive style of cooking and personal brand as a chef throughout his career, particularly as Chef Patron at his prestigious restaurant, Bell Pepper Blues. Michael further raised his profile through a number of PR opportunities including regular cooking demonstrations and appearances on TVNZ’s Good Morning, New Zealand’s most popular daytime television show. He was honored by being asked to cook for Bill Clinton and all the other world leaders at the 1998 APEC Summit in Auckland and to being asked to design and cook a ‘Taste New Zealand Dinner’ for Tradenz brand partners in Bali.

John Barr

Tony was the school Dux in 1966. He quickly made-up time away from school when he travelled to England with his parents. He gained School Certificate in 1964 scoring 331 out of a possible 400 marks. He won the George Stratton Memorial Prize for Mathematics and Science in the Sixth Form and an Old Boys Prize for General Excellence in form 6. In form 7 he won the George Stratton Memorial Prize for Mathematics and Science in the Upper Sixth Form (Year 13). In the National Scholarship Examinations gained a prestigious University National Scholarship.

Rector H.H Craig wrote the following testimonial for Tony: “To very high natural ability he has added a key thirst for knowledge, consistent effort and conscientious application.  His scholastic success he has taken very modestly and in class he is always responsive, alert and very co-operative. He is ever ready to accept the challenge of a problem to be solved. It is also very pleasing to see the marked improvement in English this year and he is mastering the hard literary criticisms to bring English near the very high standards he has reached in Mathematics and Science. He is a likely Scholarship winner this year. Although not a natural sportsman he had played his part and has actively participated in many school activities, always being very willing to help. A natural shyness produced in his early years produced a rather awkward approach but his years in form 6 have brought a pleasing maturity and a much more relaxed and confident manner. He is frank and open, trustworthy and reliable and responsible. He is always setting himself high standards of conduct and has proved most diligent in everything he does. Increasing confidence has brought powers of initiative and leadership although he is as yet rather hesitant to use them.”

On leaving school Tony started as an undergraduate at the University of Otago he gained a degree with 1^st class honours majoring in Physics.  He started his doctorate studies at Otago before gaining a scholarship at Oxford University in the UK where completed his Doctorate.  While at Oxford he took up rowing and travelled to several countries around the world with fellow students.

On returning to New Zealand, he was employed working in the Registry at the University of Otago. It was here he met his wife, Mary who worked in the Computer Centre which served the Registry.  The couple moved to Wellington where after working for an employer Tony he set up his own IT company “Systems Research Ltd”.

Tony knew he could get a good job in the UK so when the family’s two daughters had grown up Tony and Mary set out on the 1^st of January for an OE in Oxford, UK. Tony soon got a job in IT commuting to London and working for Aris a Risk and Insurance Solutions company.  In 2002 they moved back to New Zealand and settled in Dunedin. Tony soon got involved with volunteering – first with Walking Track development and clearance around Dunedin, then for two decades with the Orokanui Ecosanctuary and later for the Yellow Eyed Penguin Trust.  He did a lot of work for the Otago Peninsular Group helping to eradicate possums and other pests. In 2022 Tony was awarded an Otago Community Trust Certificate for Volunteering.

Tony died on June 14, 2023 in Dunedin, aged 73 years

John Barr

Geoffrey Read Thomas (Attended Kings High School from 19958 to 1962)

Since retiring from the legal profession in 2013 Geoff has remained based in Dunedin and actively pursue my commercial, not for profit and private commercial and governance activities. From April 2013 until the present ·he has been self-employed as Company Director/Consultant

He is a Chartered Fellow of Institute of Directors and more recently a Distinguished Fellow of the Institute of Directors’ (The highest accolade of the Institute)

Geoff attended King’s High School from 1958 to 1962. He passed the School Certificate Examinations in 1961 and gained University Entrance in i962.

On leaving Kings, Geoff attended the University of Otago where he graduated with a Batchelor of Laws (LLB) degree.

Geoff started in a two-partner law firm Anderson Lloyd. He remained with the firm were he was a partner and consultant there for 43 years. Rather than specialising in his career, he was a general practitioner of law. His major areas interests were Trusts, Business & Property law Trust and, Business & Property law. When he retired from the legal profession in 2013 there were 30-odd partners At Anderson Lloyds. He had enjoyed seeing the growth of the firm. He also had enjoyed the broad range of industries he had been involved in, including tourism, transport, engineering and education.

Geoff has governed prominent Otago organisations and companies, including chairing Dunedin Railway, Dunedin Casino, Otago Youth Employment Trust, Property Council New Zealand Otago Chapter, Larnach Castle, Principals’ Advice and Support and Lawlink Group, among others.

His non-executive director roles included Dunedin International Airport, Technology Holdings, and arts and culture boards such as the Royal New Zealand Ballet and Dunedin Fashion Incubator.

A career highlight was his involvement with Institute of Directors, where he was introduced to so many businesses and had met some “wonderful” people.  He was a member of the Institute for 17 years and contributed to the organisation as a member of the policy and practices committee, which oversaw the rewrite of Institute of Directors text “The Four Pillars of Governance Best Practice”; he was on the accreditation panel and has held positions as Otago-Southland branch chairman and as a member of Institute of Directors national council.

His first governance appointment was in the 1980s, for a public unlisted company which was taking subscriptions from the public.

On retirement he continued to give back to business and the community with roles on public, private and not-for profit boards. While he was “definitely” in his twilight years of governance, he was still long-serving chairman of The Grand Dunedin Casino, independent chairman of Larnach Castle and chairman of Principals’ Advice and Support.

John Barr

Ray was a solid supporter of the King’s High School Old Boys Association. He was the Association Auditor from 1949 to 1964

1940 Prize Giving Ray received an Honourable mention. He also passed the Public Service Entrance Examination.

On leaving King’s Ray was too young for WW1 Military Service – he joined the Home Guard and served manning the fortifications a Taiaroa Head. He studied accounting and worked for several accounting firms in Dunedin. He became a member of the New Zealand Society of Accountants in 1949.

Ray joined the Dunedin firm of Tapley Swift Shipping Agencies and worked his way up to being a Company Director, a position he held until his retirement.

A staff member who joined Tapley Swift in 1964 said Ray was a kind caring manager who took a real interest in his staff.

The company through Ray had lots of dealings with Scandinavian shipping – in appreciation of Ray’s efforts he was appointed Honorary Swedish Vice Consul for New Zealand in 2010. He served in this role until 2014. The Swedish King appointed Ray to be an Officer of the Royal Order of the Polar Star by the Swedish Ambassador in 2014. He received this honour for his services as the Honorary Swedish Vice Consul for New Zealand from 2010 to 20141. The Royal Order of the Polar Star is a Swedish order of chivalry that is awarded to foreign citizens for their contributions to Sweden.

Outside of work Ray was a member of The Dunedin Lions Club where he held the roles of Treasurer and President. He was club secretary of the Dunedin Chess Club for many years and was Club President in 1965 and 1966. He was a very sound player being Junior Champion in 1956 and Intermediate Champion in 1963.

He had a long-time interest is sport playing bowls at the Andersons Bay Club and Golf with the Chisholm Park Club.

John Barr

In his final year at Kings, Wade was a School Prefect and Proxime Accessit to the Dux. He was an exceptional student and had been since Year 9. His confidence and skill in foreign languages is almost unprecedented at Kings. While still at school, Wade achieved an A in Spanish at the 300 level from the Otago University. He won a place on a student trip to Germany in the same year, as well. He gained a School Blue in Scholastic and Stage Performance. He was awarded a High Distinction award and a Medal for gaining the top mark in New Zealand in the very competitive Australian Council for Educational Research English Writing Com­petition. He also gained a High distinction Award in the English competition. He was awarded a High Distinction in German Certificate 3 Listening and a Distinction in German Certificate 3 Reading.

At the Senior Prize Giving Wade won a Special Prize for Creative Writing. He won Department prizes for Media Studies and Languages. He gained Excellence Prizes for Classical Studies and Professional Cooking. He won the University Bookshop Prize for English, the Humanities Award and a Services to Catering Award

Wade has shown real talent as a public speaker, placing in local competitions. He has also made outstanding contributions to drama with major roles in Stage Challenge and musicals such as Les Misérables. He was a member of the King’s choir and has taken part in a wide variety of sports such as water polo, canoe polo and indoor soccer.

On leaving Kings he took first year law at the University of Otago where in 2013 he graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) and a Bachelor of Arts (Language and Linguistics).

After graduating he worked at the law firm MinterEllisonRuddWatts in Wellington, where he worked with a wide range of clients, particularly in the technology and start-up sectors.

On returning to Dunedin in 2018 after nearly four years in Wellington Wade took up work at the legal firm of Gallaway Cook Allan. At Gallaway Cook Allan, Wade is not only an associate, he has also been pitching in on the firm’s adoption of IT solutions.

He joined the volunteer, non-profit organisation Startup Dunedin. After two years being Trustee/Board Member, he was named chair. The organisation focuses on supporting startups in the area.

Wade helps businesses big and small with their corporate and commercial needs – from contracts and investment, to technology, construction and intellectual property. He is especially active in the technology, game development, SME and construction sectors. He also is a huge supporter of Dunedin’s exciting and growing startup ecosystem (particularly the gaming sector).
He takes complex commercial concepts and turns them into simple and clear words. He regularly writes articles for the Otago Daily Times and tries to communicate tricky legal ideas in a straightforward way.

Wade was named as a rising star for 2022 by New Zealand Lawyer magazine. He has presented nationally on legal topics at the New Zealand Game Developers conference. He enjoys gaming, and also the chance to help the burgeoning industry, which is growing both locally and nationally. He is a member of the New Zealand Game Developers Association and IT Professionals New Zealand.

John had a good five years at Kings where he made steady academic progress.  He was a keen accounting student. He had always wanted to be an accountant when growing up.

On leaving Kings he studied Accounting at the University of Otago from 1989 to 1990.

John is the owner and Company Director of Moyles FreshChoice Supermarket, a third-generation family business. John’s father, Lyndsay, opened the first grocery store in Green Island in 1952. The family opened a large supermarket on a new site in Main South Rd, Green Island, under the A-1 brand in 1977. The supermarket was renovated and rebranded Moyle’s Supervalue Green Island in 1998. John bought out his parents in the early 2000s.

John developed a larger, new supermarket which opened in December 2015 on the other side of Main South Rd, in Green Island. It had a butchery section twice the size of the previous store, a much larger frozen for section and a bakery. The new supermarket employed 56 staff.   He has a proud heritage of contributing to the local community and supports various local initiatives through the FreshChoice Community Fund.  He has been involved in various clubs, associations and schools in the Saddle Hill area, such as the Green Island Cricket Club, the Sunnyvale Community Centre Board, and the St Peter Chanel Board of Trustees.

John is also an elected member of the Saddle Hill Community Board, which represents and advocates for the local area.

Grant was a member of the first Rugby Fifteen in 1981 and 1982. He gained a School Blue for rugby in 1982.

Grant was a member of the student Executive and Chairman of the School Council.

On leaving King’s Grant attended the University of Otago. He graduated in 1990 with a

1. Com (Economics) degree.

Grant worked for 20 years at Mainland Products and Cadbury then, for the past decade from 2008 to 2018, at Silver Fern Farms, where he was general manager sales

He always had a hankering to do his “own thing” but never had the right opportunity at the right time and in the right place. However, in 2018 the time was right and he bought Fishers Meats. He has also been associated with other companies in the food sector, such as Farm IQ Systems Limited, Alpine Origin Merino Limited, and Primary Collaboration New Zealand Limited. He set up The Craft Meat Company a New Zealand startup that produces plant-based and traditional meat products.

In October 2018, the Craft Meat Company launched plant-based ‘‘No Meat Mince’’ and relaunched it last year with a hemp protein recipe. The company sells plant-based mince, burgers, sausages and nuggets made from ingredients such as pea protein, hemp seeds, coconut oil and beetroot.

For the past 2.5 years Grant has been at Tuapeka Gold Print (located at Fairfield) in a General Management role.

Grant has continued his rugby interests as one of the managers of the Colts Rugby team of the Green Island Rugby Football Club.

Grant is currently Vice President of the Kingsmen Committee.

He owns/operates a successful jewelry store in Dunedin, and in 2022 he was elected to the Dunedin City Council.
Brent gave an entertaining speech to the KHSOBA AGM, held recently at Luna, where he reminisced on his days at school. Though recalling it as a “cold draughty hole“ he had fond memories of his time there and of the lifelong friends made – particularly Shane Kennedy, Russell Carrodus, Alister Scrymgeour, Andrew Jarvis and Steve Eaton.
On leaving Kings he did his watchmakers and jewellery apprenticeship at his father’s business. It was while attending an apprenticeship block course (no online learning in those days!!) in Wellington in 1980 that he met his future wife – Jo.

As they say good things take time, but in 1999 Jo and he  married – with his school mate Shane Kennedy and Alister Scrymgeour in the wedding party.

Brent worked in his father’s business for 22 years and it eventually became clear that two alpha males could not take the business in the same direction.

It led to Brent being made redundant in the early 2000’s!

Brent described what must have been a difficult time is his life, but he demonstrated independence and determination to turn that into a really positive one.

He quickly set up business on his own account, in the shop that he and Jo still own/run today.

As he put it – “it was the best thing that ever happened to me”.

In recent years, Brent has been prominent in his opposition to a number of the previous councils’ plans for the Dunedin inner-city business district – particularly the painting of polka dots on George Street! (According to Brent that would have to go down in history as one of the lamest council efforts ever attempted!)

It led to him taking the unprecedented step of trespassing the mayor of the day (Aaron HAWKINS) from his premises!

Not one to sit back and take pot-shots from the side-lines, Brent put his hand up and ran for council on the Team Dunedin ticket in the 2022 local body elections. Brent was successful and was the highest polling new counsellor to be elected.
Brent juggles his time managing his business with his wife, Jo, and attending to council affairs.
Brent is a true blue and gold “Southern Man” with a love of Dunedin. He has been a vocal advocate in the council’s opposition to the government cuts in expenditure for the new hospital build, which is underway in Dunedin.
Chris George

22/04/2023

Graham was a School Prefect in both 1954 and 1955.  He was a Warrant Officer in the Air Training Corps were he was awarded the Challenge Cup for being the most efficient NCO.

Graham was in the school Senior Athletics Champion in 1954 and 1955. He was the School Senior Tennis Champion in 1955.

In the Otago Secondary School Athletics championships he won the long jump and high jump

He was in the First Rugby 15 and the School athletics Team  in 1954 and 1955.

He was awarded a School Blue in Athletics and Tennis in 1954 and 1955 and Rugby in 1955.

On leaving King’s Graham retained a life time love for rugby.  He continued to play while at University and later coached the University of Otago Rugby Team. He was a Member of the Otago Rugby Union. He had a box at the Carisbrook ground and he and wife Lynne enjoyed watching many test matches both in New Zealand and overseas.

Graham was a foundation member of the Cavaliers Cricket Club. The club was set up to let players who had enjoyed their time with serious cricket and now wanted to take part in a more social game. Graham enjoyed all aspects  of the sociel game.  He even managed to get the Dunedin City corporation to alocate a pavilion at Chingsford Park to the club. His Father-in-law was the Mayor of Dunedin at the time possibly helped this cause.

The Dunedin Club had a long association with Graham.  He was a past President of the Club. Over the years Graham has been very generous in making donations to schools, tertiary institutions and other worthy causes.

Golf was also a passion of Grahams. He was a member of the St Clair golf Club from 1960 until the day he died. In the 1990’s he purched a holiday home at Millbrook Resort in Arrowtown.  The resort’s golf course was a major attraction for Graham and the many friends who came to visit.

Graham gained an accounting degree a the University of Otago and started his first job with Otakau Fisheries.  He the purchased a firm called Highway construction which he renamed Otago Bitumen. Managing director of Whirl Wide Helicopters in Timaru was his next move as his career progressed. He was Managing director and founder of Tourism holdings Ltd. He held a directorship in many companies and was associated with 42 different companies. Here are just a few:

Vertical Flight Management Limited, Heli Ski Limited, Lht No 3 Limited, Lht No 1 Limited, Atpac Travel (USA) Limited, Hawthorne Holdings Limited, Newmans South Pacific Tours Limited, Great Sights South Pacific Limited, Transport Hospitality Leisure New Zealand Limited, Tourist Hotel Corporation Of New Zealand Limited, Aoraki/Mount Cook Alpine Village Limited, Rotorua International Plaza Hotel Limited, Waitomo Caves Holdings Limited

Robert Graham (Graham) Sinclair (At Kings High School from 1949 to 1953)

Graham was a School Prefect and a Warrant Officer in the School Cadet Corps. He was a member of the School Rugby Football Committee and a member of the First Fifteen. He gained a School Blue for Rugby.

Graham received an honourable mention in VIA English and gained his University Entrance in 1953. In 1954 Graham was in Australia under a student exchange.

In 1955 Graham was elected to the Committee of the King’s High School Old Boys Association.

In 1960 Graham graduated Batchelor of Laws at the University of Otago.

Graham was elected New Zealand President of the Junior Chamber of Commerce in 1968 and travelled extensively throughout the world.  He then became World President of the Junior Chamber of Commerce in 1971. He led a worldwide organisation that exists in more than 5000 communities across nearly 120 countries.

Graham worked with Nicoll Sinclair Cooney & Co, Solicitors in Ashburton while living nearby in Geraldine.  He was associated with companies including Brightwater Limited, Hereford Towers Nominees Limited, Jones Oysters Limited, Stewart Island Fish Packing & Storage Co Limited, Foveaux Strait Oyster & Fish Supply Co Limited, Pasco Bros Stewart Island Limited, Oban Fishing Co Limited, Fresh Oysters Limited, Jones Fishing Limited, Caravans International Munro Limited, Fiordland Adventures Limited, Treble Cone Wanaka Ski Field Limited, Milford Sound Utilities Limited, Atpac Travel (USA) Limited, New Zealand’s Leading Attractions Limited, Queenstown Information Centre Limited, Whirl Wide Helicopters Limited, Vfm (S.I.) Limited, Alpine Guides Mount Cook Limited, Heli Ski Limited, Danes Shotover Rafts Limited, Milford Sound Tourism Limited, Tourist Hotels Finance Limited, Horizontal Flight Management Limited.

On retiring, Graham moved to Wanaka where he enjoyed using his skills to help others

David died on Thursday, Sep 22 2017, after a long illness. He is survived by wife Lesley, two children, three stepchildren and 11 grandchildren.
David was born in Dunedin in 1944 and was a pupil at Kings High School from 1957 – 1961. He began his journalism career at the Otago Daily Times in 1962.
He went on to work in newspaper, magazine, radio and television journalism. He was a senior current affairs host and interviewer for TVNZ and edited the Listener from 1984 to 1988.
Later in his career, Beatson held several senior government and public affairs roles, including chairman of New Zealand on Air and vice-president of Air New Zealand.
He also served as chief press secretary to Prime Minister Jim Bolger.
David was generous with his time and in his career was committed to “old school values like objectivity”.

Courageous, determined and undeterred. Raymond Chan will leave a legacy of great courage, as well as of good humour and a passion for wine. He passed away on Sunday 10 February 2019 after a long journey with cancer, which lasted the best part of a decade.

Raymond enjoyed a successful school career gaining a general excellence award in Chemistry, Biology, Physics, English and Mathematics. He was a cheerful, friendly, pleasant natured pupil who got on well with his peers. He enjoyed playing social basketball. At Otago University he graduated with a double degree in biology and marketing, in 1978 and worked at Chan’s Garden Restaurant, owned by his family in Dunedin.

Raymond ran his 100th marathon in Dunedin at the Moro Marathon on September 9, 2012, breaking a record in the process – taking just six years, five months and eight days to be the fastest to achieve the target. He is the 37th member of the New Zealand 100 Marathons Club.

If you are connected to the wine industry in any shape or form, you will know Raymond’s professional reputation as a professional wine reviewer and wine judge. He has hosted a plethora of wine tasting events over the years and scrutinised countless bottles from New Zealand and beyond. His name is synonymous with integrity, his wine reviews being ground-breaking in our industry for meticulous attention to detail, both in technical winemaking and the detail of the tastings notes themselves. He always was interested in the people behind the wines and told their stories and histories. His archive of tasting notes on his website is of tremendous use to winemakers and wine drinkers alike.
In October 2017 he was awarded the Sir George Fistonich Medal, perhaps the highest wine honour in the land – awarded once a year to one individual for outstanding contribution to the New Zealand wine industry.

Alan attended Caversham School and Macandrew Intermediate before moving on to King’s High School. Here he gained General Excellence Prizes each year from 1971 to 1974.  In 1974 he was awarded the Sixth Form science Prize.  In his final year, he gained an A Bursary pass, the Seventh Form Mathematics Prize and the honour of becoming School Dux.  On leaving school Alan graduated from Otago University with a Batchelor of Science Degree in Chemistry.
Alan always had a strong interest in philately (stamp collecting) and had worked part-time for Donald White at the Dunedin Stamp Centre during his school and university years. At the end of his academic training, he opted to continue at the Stamp Centre full time. It was a very rewarding career which involved a surprising amount of travel, both national and international.

In the year 2000, Alan left the Stamp Centre to concentrate on his own business, A M Kilpatrick Ltd., which at that time specialised in telephone cards both as a collectable and as a distributor to the retail trade. The phonecard collectors’ market was a heady affair and it too involved significant travel, with six annual trips to collector fairs in Europe. Alan also wrote several published books and catalogues on phonecards and well as writing numerous magazine articles.

In more recent years Alan, while still dealing phonecards, has returned to his roots of stamp dealing. But to this has been added other allied fields of coins, banknotes, postcards, cigarette cards, antique jewellery and gold & silver bullion. Trademe is Alan’s main outlet for the collectable’s fields, while the gold and silver are traded amongst his network of retail and wholesale clients. Alan is a member of the NZ Stamp Dealers Association and the NZ Numismatic Dealers Association. He is also a Licensed Second-Hand Dealer.