In July 1975 an ad hoc group of musicians from Bushey got together to perform at the Bushey Festival. Some of the members of the Festival Orchestra, as they had called themselves, wanted something more regular and continued playing together but had no idea that the orchestra would still be going strong – with a number of those original members – 40 years later.

“It’s probably the best orchestra in the area,“ says music director and conductor George Vass, who himself will be celebrating his 30th anniversary with the Bushey Symphony Orchestra (BSO) in the autumn, and who studied at the Birmingham Conservatoire and the Royal Academy of Music.

“They’ve become good friends and they’re cracking players.“

The BSO started, after that first festival, as an evening class at Cassio College and became independent in 1977, with the support of Hertsmere Council. The orchestra gave regular concerts at the Church of St Peter in Bushey Heath and moved to what is now Bushey Academy in the 1990s, when audiences began to grow.

George Vass is the fourth conductor the BSO has had, taking the job in 1985, after founder David Pickett and Philip White, who conducted from 1983 to 1985.

The orchestra has been celebrating its 40th season since November, and the programme continues on Saturday with Music from the Great War, an evening of music either written by composers who were involved in World War One or inspired by the events of that war.

George will be conducting and violinist and orchestra leader Martin Smith, from St Albans, will be performing Butterworth’s The Banks of Green Willow, Elgar’s Sospiri Op 70 and his Intermezzo for String Orchestra Op 82, Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending and also Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus, and Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin.

“It’s a nice thing to do rather than the normal overture/concerto/symphony which we all do such a lot of,“ says George. “The members are loving it, it really does sound great.“

  • Bushey Academy, London Road, Bushey on Saturday, May 16 at 7.30pm. Details: 01923 774229, busheysymphony.org.uk