And, after a 3¾-hour birthday bash at Nottingham's Royal Concert Hall on Saturday, few, if any, of the capacity audience of 2,500 would have disagreed.

The county's pioneering radio station, one of eight regional operations set up in the UK 40 years ago, are to be congratulated for sharing their birthday milestone with Cantamus, Mansfield's local choir with a worldwide reputation.

This was more than evident in the standing ovation from a full house at the end of the concert, which for Cantamus' founding director Pamela Cook MBE must have been like a fairytale dream as she looked back four decades to the time on a November evening when she and 14 of her private singing pupils gave their debut concert at Warsop Parish Church in front of 97 people.

Since then, Cantamus and more than 350 girls — who over the years have donned the various dresses and styles that have dazzled and delighted fans — have become a musical force with which to be reckoned, whether it's at home, winning the Choir of the Year at the Llangollen Eisteddfod, or returning in triumph from China two years ago with two gold medals from the the World Choir Olympics to add to 22 first prizes in international choral festivals.

All this, and more, was recaptured in words, music and archive footage in a slick, entertaining show devised by BBC producer Graham Owens in collaboration with Philip Chapman and presented by BBC Radio Nottingham "old boy" Mansfield's Richard Bacon.

The journey of sound and song included the opening chimes of 'Little John' on Radio Nottingham (originally broadcast on 94.8) taking in the highs (Nottingham Forest Football Club's cup success) and the lows (the Hillsborough Stadium disaster) covered by the station in the 40 years that has seen its core values of local coverage enhanced and improved with new radio technology.

This was interspersed with chat and comment by stalwart football commentator Colin Slater, gardening guru John Stirland and Karen, daughter of legendary presenter Dennis McCarthy, plus live phone links to DJ Simon Mayo and Olympic skater Jayne Torvill.

Her Olympics success, and that of Mansfield swimmer Rebecca Adlington, was given fulsome praise by Richard Bacon as he recalled Cantamus' double gold success in China, just one of the many places visited by the choir whose members, when they are not touring around the British Isles, have packed passports and suitcases to travel to Hungary, Holland, Belgium, Finland, Germany, Italy, Poland, Israel, the USA, Canada and Japan.

But while Cantamus have received rave reviews wherever they travel, Miss Cook and her team have never lost sight of showcasing and encouraging the best of local vocal talent, many of whom who have gone to fly the flag for Mansfield as professional singers in the UK and further afield.

Talents honed by their time in Cantamus were shown in three solos given by Vivienne Bailey now with Leeds-based Opera North; Elizabeth Key, one of the youngest members of the Royal Opera in London, and Rebecca Von Lipinski, who went on from the choir, and appearing in the ground-breaking 'Flashmob' at Sheffield's Meadowhall Shopping Centre, to national opera and concert oratorio work.

Concertgoers were also able to see video greetings from Canada, New Zealand and the USA from some "old girls" unable to join in the party, but it was a show of loyalty (and a tribute to the organisational talents of Miss Cook and her long-serving secretary Sheila Haslam) that 180 former members were in the audience and joined the main and training choirs on stage for a seven-song medley that included Abba's aptly titled 'Thank You for the Music', Paul Simon's 'The Sound of Silence' and Reg Presley's 'Love Is All Around.'

This joyous finale came after a musical journey that opened on a surprising note — a raunchy, Cabaret-style rendition of Duffy's hit 'Mercy' — ahead of a varied selection of songs marking the years and the choir's growing stature and skills, so much so that they now have a repertoire of 250 songs in 13 languages, ranging from contemporary music to folk song as well as operatic classics to test the best.

The concert included many arrangements by former accompanist Michael Neaum who shared appearances with his successor, Philip Robinson, starting with 'The Way We Were' switching to Hungarian and then to Polish in the national hymn 'Gaude Mater Polonia' rounding off the first half with the English traditional 'Water of Tyne' and the 16th century German hymn 'Allelujah!'

Bernstein's energetic 'America' from 'West Side Story' gave a top gear start to part two of the evening, which acted as a curtain raiser to the young members of the Training Choir, conducted by Ann Irons, whose future in the main choir seemed assured with a triple treat, which included the moving 'Can You Hear Me?' which combines singing and sign language.

Miss Cook rounded off the formal part of the celebrations, saying that it was night to take your breath away, and praising the teamwork, discipline and commitment of everyone involved in Cantamus.

The video "facts and figures" show also revealed that Miss Cook has written two letters of resignation, but has yet to leave the stage.
For many of her fans and followers they hope that day will be long way off as they look forward to, what one of the audience was overheard to say, would be 'Fantastic at 50' celebrations in 10 years' time.