He became a Fellow of Trinity College of Music, London,[1] and later did his National Service in the Royal Army Medical Corps.
This brought together a number of musicians from the Midlands, who formed the Kettering Symphony Orchestra under Dilkes' leadership.
[1][2] In 1961 he formed the Midland Sinfonia and also a chamber music performance group, Opera Da Camera.
[1] The Midland Sinfonia was administered from Dilkes' home for its first five years; it acquired a permanent office in Nottingham in 1966, and gave its first London concert in 1968.
In 1963 he joined the Netherlands Radio Union International Conductors' Course,[1] where his principal tutor was Dean Dixon.