Stephen Grenfell is the storyteller in Our Day and Age

True stories of the world we live in

In the early hours of the morning a child awakes in her father's croft in a remote island of the Outer Hebrides. The pain has grown much worse. Her brother is hurriedly dressed and sent for the doctor, who says an operation within the next few hours can save her life; but equipment and facilities for such an emergency operation lie far away on the Scottish mainland. One phone call and the Scottish Air Ambulance Service swings into action. Within the hour a B.E.A. aircraft carrying a nursing sister from the Southern General Hospital, Glasgow, takes off from Renfrew Airport. Another mission of mercy has begun.

In the BBC's Glasgow studios