Obituary: Thora Bain, Orcadian dairy woman with a love of travel and a passion for history and community
Born: 14 February, 1917, in Kirkwall. Died: 22 September, 2012, in Stromness, aged 95
When Kirkwall’s St Magnus Cathedral celebrated its octo-centenary, in 1937, a young Thora Bain was cast as Ingeborg, the heathen maiden put up for sacrifice, in the event’s historic pageant.
That she still retained her costume 75 years on is testament to her love of drama, determination to preserve the island’s heritage and to her position as custodian of a great mine of Orkney lore.
Writers and scholars would beat a path to her door for information or anecdotes on a range of subjects and her home was filled with slides, books and documents charting the island’s history.
Blessed with an amazing ability to recall incidents and events, she could hold an audience spellbound with her tales of Orkney life stretching back to her childhood and beyond.
The daughter of an Orcadian father and Aberdeenshire mother, she was born on the family’s dairy farm, Saverock, just outside Kirkwall, during the First World War.
The second eldest of a family of six, she had to trek to school in Kirkwall down a country track – only getting the benefit of a lift in the pony and trap if the weather was bad.
After leaving Kirkwall Grammar School at 16, she left the island to attend Craibstone College of Rural Domestic Economy in Aberdeen, where she studied subjects including dairying and proved to be an exceptional student.
Her grandfather, George Bain of Saverock, had built a dairy complex, having been approached by the county medical officer of health, in the days when Bovine TB was rampant, to set up a modern dairy operation.
And when she gained her qualification, she returned to Orkney, in the mid-1930s, where her working life would revolve around milk. By this time, her father had bought a dairy in Kirkwall where she went to work helping her mother. Milk was delivered by pony and cart, available in bottles or by the penny dispensed from two large churns on the back of the cart.
Miss Bain’s duties included filling and washing the milk bottles. They didn’t acquire a motorised vehicle for deliveries until the Second World War when they bought a small Morris van.
And, as Orkney became an important naval wartime base, the family supplied the boats in Scapa Flow with milk, stretching their net further and further afield to source large enough quantities for the troops and support services. During this time, the Bains also started packaging milk in non-returnable cartons – a boon to the many small ships working the Orkney waters.
Although her father took over another dairy and named it the Orkney Creamery, she preferred the Saverock Dairy name. She and her brother Sandy ran the business after her father died and she continued working up until about 20 years ago.
“Thora was never afraid to express her own opinion, or correct an untruth,” said Orkney Heritage Society president, AJ Firth. “Orkney has lost one of its most endearing and hard working characters. “Thora was admired and respected by all who knew her.”
She is survived by her sister, Margaret.
ALISON SHAW