The celebrated works of Elgar, Delius and Holst raised the roof of the Watford Colosseum as the Watford Philharmonic Society began the celebrations to mark its 75th season.

Hundreds of classical music fans filled the hall last night (Wednesday) to hear the orchestra and choir replicate the programme from the society's first concert, including a version of Land of Hope and Glory.

Chairman Alan Bannister said: “There's still a demand for what we do in terms of the enjoyment people get out of taking part and filling the hall. We're very fortunate to have the Colosseum and we're looking forward to it being refurbished.”

It was in 1934 Leslie Regan and Sir Henry Wood wanted to stage a concert to commemorate Elgar, Delius and Holst who had all died that year, but it was pushed back to 1935 to coincide with King George V's silver jubilee.

They brought together various choirs and instrumentalists and formed a jubilee choir for three performances.

This then formed the basis of a combined orchestra and choir that became known as the Watford and District Philharmonic Society, which is now celebrating its 75th season.

However, Wednesday night's concert was not without drama as male soloist James Oldfield was forced to pull out with tonsillitis just 24 hours before showtime.

But having sung for the Queen in an Armistice Day service at Westminster Abbey, his replacement Philip Tebb was able to join female soloist Rosie Aldridge on stage with the society and conductor Terry Edwards.

Mr Bannister said: “There's still a demand for what we do in terms of the enjoyment people get out of taking part and filling the hall. We're very fortunate to have the Colosseum and we're looking forward to it being refurbished.

“We are a small business and everybody is a volunteer except our conductor and all the work of the society is done by a fantastic team who have seriously important jobs to do without which the society wouldn't function.

“Our 75th anniversary is very important. It shows how important the society is. It just moves through its members. The society is much more important than our individual members and it keeps going.

“And Watford still finds us very important. The council helps us with grants which to us indicate their faith in us as a society and recognise the importance we play in cultural life of Watford as a town.”

The Watford Philharmonic will perform its annual Christmas concert at the Colosseum on December 16 before appearing again at the Colosseum in March and in Chorleywood in June next year.