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'Singing in BGT choir helps mental health', says farmer

John Devine,in Marchand
Alex Dunlop,in March
News imageJohn Devine/BBC Ben Brooke has short, neat dark hair, a bit curly on top, he has a matching beard and moustache and is wearing a grey cotton sports top zipped up to his neck. Behind him are grass fields with a rough track wide enough for one vehicle running through it.John Devine/BBC
Ben Brooke said he had never sung in public before his appearance with the choir on national TV

A fourth-generation farmer said singing in a choir, which has reached ITV's Britain's Got Talent semi-final, gave him "extra support" in his job, which could be "very lonely and isolating".

Ben Brooke, who farms near March in Cambridgeshire, auditioned to join the Hawkstone Farmers Choir last May, which was formed by TV celebrity Jeremy Clarkson.

The choir has made it through to the closing stages of the show after judge Amanda Holden gave them a "golden buzzer" at the weekend.

Brooke, from West Bilney, in Norfolk, said the choir, made up of farmers from across the UK, wanted to raise awareness of mental health issues affecting many working in agriculture.

Brooke, 35, said performing the uplifting anthem One Day Like This by Elbow with 32 others at the Birmingham Hippodrome on Saturday's show was a "once in a lifetime" experience to sing - and be seen by millions on TV.

However, he had never felt more out of his comfort zone in the rehearsals, he admitted, having only ever "sung to my daughter".

After his wife replied to an advert for singers for a farmers' choir, Brooke was chosen as one of the members and was given a baritone-bass role.

News imageMartin Giles/BBC Ben Brooke is looking at the camera while standing in a field next to a large tractor. He is wearing a grey top and blue jeans. There are wind turbines in the background.Martin Giles/BBC
Brooke said singing had given him a "new family"

For him, it had been like finding "a community you didn't know you had been in".

Meeting other members of the farming choir "turned into a massive society - a new family", said Brooke.

"Farming can be, like, super-isolating - you're out here, lonely, you're in your own thoughts a lot, so if we can raise awareness for mental health within agriculture, then that's something that we really want to push," he added.

News imageAlex Dunlop/BBC Stephanie Berkeley is smiling at the camera. She has long, brown hair and is wearing a dark blue top. She is holding a lamb.Alex Dunlop/BBC
Stephanie Berkeley, from the Farm Safety Foundation, said mental health support for the agriculture industry was vital

Stephanie Berkeley, from the Farm Safety Foundation, said the choir had helped show there was "support there for the industry".

"It's a sense of community," she said.

"They work 17 hours on their own, so singing your heart out has got to be good.

"We need to make sure farmers have that outlet for them - whether it's sport, music or helping out."

She added: "It's about raising your voices together - there is always hope and there is always community."

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