When Jeremy Clarkson’s Farmers’ Choir hit the Golden Buzzer, two Dorset voices were at the heart of a performance carrying more than harmony
The Hawkstone Farmers’ Choir caused a sensation on Britain’s Got Talent recently. Their singing was so good that a tearful Amanda Holden pressed the Golden Buzzer, giving them an automatic pass to the talent show semi-finals. Within the choir were two farmers from Dorset, Ben Chick and Ellie Maguire. Twenty-seven-year-old Ben farms at Sixpenny Handley and applied to get involved in the choir set up by Jeremy Clarkson.
‘There was an advert for a farming choir,’ he says. ‘When I saw it I jumped at the chance. We all had to record a video of us singing for a minute, so I went up into one of the fields with four yellow Labradors and sang. There were more than 500 applications, so I felt very privileged when they emailed me back to say I had been chosen.
‘I have always loved music. I was in the choir at Clayesmore and was head chorister, I had a Grade 8 scholarship, as I play several instruments. It’s very much in my DNA, but I hadn’t sung for several years.
‘A couple of years ago I got chronic fatigue, which is a bit like long Covid. I still have it now, but singing is really good for that because it stimulates your vagus nerve. It also stimulates your endorphins, so you get that dopamine release and it makes you feel really good, especially when you are with other people in a group.
It has been an amazing way to meet up and offload. It has been really helpful to me mentally. Because I’m musical and love harmonies, the feeling of being in a choir when it sounds amazing is just a really cool experience.’
The Hawkstone Farmers’ Choir
The Farmers’ Choir was set up by Jeremy Clarkson and includes people involved with farming from all over Britain, people who share a connection to agriculture and a love of singing.
About 40 members were chosen. It’s not just farmers, others, including an entomologist and a seed merchant, represent various aspects of the agricultural industry. They first gathered at Jeremy Clarkson’s pub, The Farmer’s Dog, to record playful promotional jingles which have since appeared on social media. Some of these jingles have become known for their rather sweary content and, as a consequence, many have been banned from mainstream broadcasting channels. Ben was among the farmers who recorded those first songs.
‘That was the first thing we did. Jeremy came up with some lyrics with someone else – they must have had a pint or two while writing them, but it was absolutely hilarious. It was totally stupid, but brilliant – and it’s very clever marketing.’
Britain’s Got Talent
The choir was selected to audition at the Birmingham Hippodrome on 3rd October last year,but it wasn’t until 21st March that thousands of viewers saw the performance on television. ‘We only had two rehearsals before the Britain’s Got Talent audition,’ Ben says. ‘Going on to the show was an amazing experience. We’re from all necks of the woods. I’m the youngest at 27 and I think the oldest is 74. This is the biggest thing we’ve ever done. It was quite a long day waiting around, and we got our slot around 4pm.
‘There was just so much energy in the room, everyone was so excited.’
For the choir members, it’s about more than just singing: it’s about representing their industry at a time when it is under the greatest pressure. ‘It means such a lot to us,’ says Ben. ‘We are not just another choir. We are representing British agriculture. I’ve lost people I know in agriculture to suicide. A lot of us in the choir have our own stories, and the choir has meant different things to everyone. When we come together and represent the industry, especially in the difficult time currently, it’s a real privilege. At the end of it, the place was electric.’
The judges on the day were Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon, KSI and special guest judge Stacey Solomon. The choir sang the uplifting anthem ‘One Day Like This’ by Elbow and so impressed the judges that Amanda Holden instantly thumped the Golden Buzzer– the Farmers’ Choir had an automatic pass to the semi-finals. ‘We were all thinking we have a great story and we’re quite good … and then that happened. It was incredible. We were all hugging. I’m the one in the back jumping around like a ninja.’
Ellie Maguire, who lives near Sherborne, was also selected to sing in the choir: ‘From the minute we came together as a choir we knew it was something special,’ she wrote on social media. ‘What started out as some fun adverts is becoming something truly magic. We are all singing our hearts out so that rural communities can be heard.
‘It was unbelievable that we were there and when we got the Golden Buzzer I just lost it. I couldn’t contain the tears – it felt that we really were being seen.’
What Happens Next
Ben and the other farmers are naturally looking forward to progressing: ‘The next stage is the semi-finals, and we have some rehearsals coming up soon,’ says Ben. ‘What has been special is the whole ‘coming togetherness’ and the community feel of it all. We are genuinely one big family. The opportunity for us to do this has been magical. It has been a revelation for people to offload the daily struggles, meet like-minded people and sing together.’
The choir was created to support mental health within the farming community. ‘If we win, we’ll be donating the money to charity,’ says Ben. ‘There has never been a more perfect time to support farming. It has been really difficult and I hope this resonates with the public.’
