About Us

Originally called The Ashford Orchestra, the ensemble is said to have started in the 1930s, when a group of eight or so string players met to play together. In the past it met in various venues, including St. David’s (Welsh Girls’) School where it comprised of up to thirty string players. Occasional concerts were sometimes supported by brass and woodwind players, brought in when needed, and any income raised was sent to the NSPCC.

In the 1960 the orchestra was under the control of Derwyn and Alys Hopkins, both teachers at Ashford College when it was a Grammar School. The group met in the school hall and, for a while, operated as an evening class. In 1996, Richard Pywell (oboist) became the conductor for the next nine years.

In 2005 the orchestra engaged the services of Peter Legge, a former military musician, and relocated to St. Matthew’s Church, Ashford, where the group had been giving annual concerts at the Christmas Tree Festival since 1999.

In 2020 the COVID pandemic put the orchestra on pause for eighteen months. It restarted in October 2021 in its new venue in Shepperton, with its new conductor, David Bruce, and with a new identity, The Spelthorne Orchestra