Jeremy Clarkson choir shows farmers they are not alone

A choir launched by TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson has highlighted the value of connection in farming.

The Hawkstone Farmers' Choir, first put together to advertise the Oxfordshire celebrity-farmer's beer, won Britain's Got Talent this year and has just released its first single.

Its members, who farm everywhere from Cambridgeshire to Northumberland, say singing together has helped them cope with the isolation the job can bring.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast ahead of a live performance, Andy Owens, who farms near Hereford, said farmers "normally only get together at farm sales, markets or funerals", but the choir shared a "unique bond".

He said farming could be lonely, particularly for those working on their own.

"Times aren't easy for anyone," he said. "Farming when you're battling elements you can't control, the weather being one, and you're left with your thoughts all day.

"These intrusive thoughts can get the better of you."

Katryna Shell, who farms in Northumberland, said what "started as a silly advert" had helped members' mental health "so much".

"You realise you're not alone with your thoughts," she said. "Everybody in the choir gets it... we didn't have to explain why we felt that way."

Ben Brooke, an arable farmer from March in Cambridgeshire, said: "Farming is very isolating. We're doing it for a bigger reason. We want to provoke these conversations within agriculture."

Last month the choir donated £50,000 of its £250,000 Britain's Got Talent prize money to five charities supporting farming, mental health and rural communities.

Many of the choir's members had no singing experience before joining.

Brooke said he had "literally never sung before" and was "near on miming" in the first advert, but now has a solo on the group's debut album.

Rosie Jones, who farms near Welshpool in Powys, previously sang in Les Misérables in the West End, but said being part of the choir was "completely different".

She was about four weeks from her due date when the choir performed in the Britain's Got Talent final in May.

She called it a special moment and said: "I'll be able to look back and show my little girl."

The choir is led by its director, Lizzie Deane, from Milton Keynes, who has described the job as "vocally herding sheep".

Clarkson was in the audience for the final, sitting next to Brooke's wife.

He said they were "both welling up" and he "had to remember what I was actually going to sing".

The choir's success has brought about some surprising celebrity encounters.

Shell said that while walking to the toilet on the red carpet at the National Television Awards, someone grabbed her arm to tell her the choir's work was "absolutely fantastic".

"Anyway, it was Graham Norton," she said.

The choir's first single, Absolution, was released last week.

The debut album, This Is Home, is out on 20 November, the same night the choir performs at the Royal Variety Performance at the Royal Albert Hall.

An 18-date UK tour runs from 4 March to 10 April.