A singing farmer who found fame on Britain's Got Talent has raised awareness of rural challenges at the Royal Norfolk Show.
Ben Brooke, a fourth generation farmer who lives at West Bilney in west Norfolk and farms near March in Cambridgeshire, is part of the Hawkstone Farmers Choir, which won the prime-time ITV talent show last month.
He spoke at a breakfast meeting at the show, where Norfolk Citizens Advice outlined the "Hidden Need in Rural Norfolk".
Mr Brooke said his TV journey has been "the most surreal experience of my life" - and he revealed that the choir is currently in the process of recording 12 original songs for an album.
But he is keen to use this platform to raise awareness of farming industry issues and mental health challenges.
"You can see how isolating farming can be," he said. "Not everybody is lucky enough to have people working with them, there is a lot of time in your own thoughts.
"What we want to do as a choir, and what I want to do personally, is to provoke these conversations. It is not the 1960s any more. People do talk about their feelings.
"I started off on Instagram in October, started talking about how I'm feeling online, which is not particularly comfortable, but you've got to practice what you preach.
"I think these conversations need to happen. There are text lines and phone numbers in place, there are people you can talk to, and I would advise anyone that is struggling to reach out and taken advantage of what's around you."
In front of an audience containing Norfolk MPs, business and charity leaders, and the Lord-Lieutenant of Norfolk the Lady Dannatt, Mr Brooke was asked what was the one thing he would ask on behalf of his industry.
He replied: "As a farmer I have always been brought up to realise I am a caretaker of our land, and my whole goal is to leave the land I have inherited in a better condition than I found it.
"That is my one request, whatever you are doing, whether in politics, charity, whatever you are in, leave what you are doing in a better condition than you found it. Build those communities so people are kinder to each other, more supportive.
"I want to make people proud of where they come from."
The meeting also heard from Norfolk Citizens Advice chief executive Mark Hitchcock, who gave an insight into a new "Norfolk Spotlight" report which illustrates the growing pressures on countryside communities.
He said 4,376 people from rural communities approached the charity last year, bringing 24,802 issues, ranging from debt, poverty and deprivation to travel and legal challenges.
"It is not unusual people coming in with multiple issues," he said. "The really concerning bit is we have seen a 50pc increase in people from those communities in the last four years, and we have seen a 120pc increase in the issues they bring.
"That is a staggering increase in a short space of time. "Those people are coming to us with increasingly more complex issues and more urgent concerns."
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