Hawkstone Farmers Choir celebrates victory in BGT finals

The Hawkstone Farmers’ Choir has become the first choir to win ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent show, securing the public vote last Saturday evening (30 May) and picking up a £250,000 prize pot in the process.

The choir, formed by TV celebrity Jeremy Clarkson to promote his Hawkstone brewery, sang an original song centred on farming, community and belonging, to highlight the mental health challenges facing farmers and rural communities.

For choir member Chris Slatter, a sheep and arable farmer from the Cotswolds, the victory was about more than music.

See also: Hawkstone Farmers Choir prepare for big final

“The contact we’ve had with people who have found the choir and the choir’s message very comforting – it’s very important,” he told Farmers Weekly.

The choir’s original song, written specifically for the group, reflected life on the land and the connection many farmers feel to their farms and families.

The choir performing the winning song © Tom Dymond/TalkbackThames ITV

Song choice risk

Judges described the decision to perform an original piece in the final as a risk, but one that ultimately paid off.

Judge Amanda Holden said: “You’ve made me cry again, I couldn’t be prouder of you, the harmonising was beautiful and watching the changing seasons behind you and really thinking about every second that you spend sowing dreams into that earth, which is one of the beautiful lines of that song.”

Mr Slatter said the choir had exceeded all expectations since first auditioning.

“We had absolutely no expectations going into the auditions, but after the response we had at the auditions, we thought, well, you know, we’ve got as good a chance as any.”

Raising awareness

The group’s success has also helped raise public awareness of the realities of food production and farming life.

“Food doesn’t just arrive, it’s at the pain of the weather, and all sorts of things, and the wrong weather can ruin the whole crop,” he said.

The choir’s £250,000 prize fund will support rural mental health charities and future choir activities, and the choir now also hopes to record the song to raise further funding.

Choir member and Pembrokeshire farmer Hugh Thomas, who runs a pick-your-own sunflowers and pumpkin farm, as well as self-catering accommodation, near Cardigan, said the choir had created a valuable space for farmers to talk openly about issues they would not normally discuss.

“We talk about things within the choir group – it’s farmers opening up and sort of speaking about inner feelings and those things that farmers generally wouldn’t talk about, but it’s been amazing,” he said.

Hugh Thomas © Rachel Thomas

Mr Thomas said isolation, financial pressures and the unpredictability of farming could all take a toll on mental wellbeing.

“It’s quite difficult, really, to get farmers to sort of say, I’ve got a problem, and share it with other people,” he added.

Industry welcome

The choir’s achievement has been welcomed by mental health organisations working in the farming sector.

Kate Miles, charity manager at Welsh rural mental health charity the DPJ Foundation, said the choir had helped bring farming’s challenges to a much wider audience.

“It has been brilliant to see such positive messaging around farming and the demonstration of so much support for members of our industry,” she said.

“Issues such as isolation and daily pressures are what we see at the DPJ Foundation. The Hawkstone Farmers Choir were able to put these centre stage and bring awareness more widely.”