A singing Norfolk farmer hopes his choir's TV fame on Britain's Got Talent can put the spotlight on rural communities - and raise awareness of their mental health struggles.
Fourth-generation farmer Ben Brooke is part of the Hawkstone Farmers Choir, who won the hearts of the nation when their audition for the primetime ITV show was screened last month.
Their uplifting audition, singing the Elbow anthem One Day Like This, won the "golden buzzer" from judge Amanda Holden - propelling them into the live semi-finals, now under way on Saturday evenings.
The Hawkstone Farmers Choir singing their audition for Britain's Got Talent (Image: Tom Dymond)
Mr Brooke said this success was a moment of "pure euphoria" for the 35-strong choir.
Now he is buzzing with excitement for their next TV performance, which he hopes will help further raise the profile of the industry and its mental health pressures.
The 35-year-old lives in West Bilney, between Swaffham and King's Lynn, and works on his family's 2,500 acre arable business DH Deptford Farms, based near March in Cambridgeshire.
"It is going to be quite nerve-wracking, because it is live TV - but I just can't wait to get on with it," he said.
"I think you will see something that is from our hearts. We are trying to raise awareness around mental health, promoting how lonely farming can be.
"It can be a super isolating profession - you are in your tractor all day, every day, and some people are not lucky enough to work with other people.
"We want to raise awareness for that, and provoke conversations. In farming, inherently, you are not supposed to talk about your feelings, you are supposed to just get on with it. So if we can raise awareness around the mental health struggles within agriculture, that is something we really want to push.
"So it [the semi-final performance] will be from the heart, it will be emotional and we hope it comes across that way."
Farmer Ben Brooke, who lives at West Bilney in Norfolk and farms at March in Cambridgeshire, is a member of the Hawkstone Farmers Choir due to appear in the Britain's Got Talent semi-finals (Image: Sonya Duncan)
Before the choir arrived on stage for their first Britain's Got Talent audition, Mr Brooke said "we didn't even think we would get through, to be honest" - so they were stunned by their success.
"As soon as we went on, it just went wild, people standing up and clapping," he said.
"I didn't even realise we had got the golden buzzer. I was looking up because we were told to project to the back of the room, but when I looked around I saw all the choir jumping around and I wondered: Why are we celebrating? Then I looked down and saw that it was gold - and what a feeling. It was pure euphoria. Everyone was crying.
"We could not believe it had happened. For the next month, I was waking up every morning thinking: Is it a dream?"
Farmer Ben Brooke, who lives at West Bilney in Norfolk and farms at March in Cambridgeshire, is a member of the Hawkstone Farmers Choir due to appear in the Britain's Got Talent semi-finals (Image: Sonya Duncan)
Mr Brooke said he had only ever previously sung for his daughter before joining the choir, formed by TV presenter and celebrity farmer Jeremy Clarkson.
"I've never been in a school choir, I've never sung by myself," he said. "I started because my daughter is really into singing and she loves dancing, so obviously you have got to practice what you preach, so I started singing in front of her."
That talent eventually led to a bass-baritone role in the singing ensemble that is now reaching millions of TV viewers.
"The more we do, the more it means to all of us," said Mr Brooke. "It started off doing adverts, which was a really cool experience, but we are trying to change the statistics around mental health within farming because it is something that means so much to all of us, and you can really see it when we are singing together.
"It is more than just us singing - it is about doing something good for the agricultural community, and for Britain in general."
Farmer Ben Brooke, who lives at West Bilney in Norfolk and farms at March in Cambridgeshire, is a member of the Hawkstone Farmers Choir due to appear in the Britain's Got Talent semi-finals (Image: Sonya Duncan)
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