It came from an idea for using the superb knitting skills of the island women. Mary Baker was the wife of the newly appointed Sanday headmaster, with the superb organisational skills from her former career as a hospital matron, and an accompanying belief in setting the highest standards – and she successfully sought out top international knitwear designers at fashion shows and made the case for them to use knitters in Sanday for production. The work began with crochet squares, and developed into jumpers – and eventually they were producing knitwear for Saks Fifth Avenue in New York and Harrods in London.

The community company, Isle of Sanday Knitters, brought in additional income to island households, and provided new challenges and opportunities to many people, and really changed lives. Ages ranged from late teens to late 80s, and at its peak the company was enlisting knitters from Shetland to Wolverhampton. For most of its three decades, Sandra Towrie was designing and knitting, and she has now written a book telling the story. For much of that time Tom Rendall was company secretary, and he joins her to look back at a remarkable story.

The annual Grimond Lecture commemorates Jo and Laura Grimond and their love of fresh ideas for the betterment of society. During his 33 years as Orkney and Shetland’s MP, Jo led the Liberal Party to a national revival with a distinctive radicalism and flair that reached across party boundaries. On retirement in 1983 he was appointed Baron Grimond of Firth. Laura, herself a dynamic campaigner with a long family political tradition, shared the enjoyment of seeking new solutions at community and national level, an approach we seek to highlight in each Grimond Lecture.