Ted and the Hawkstone choir

‘We’ve become a community’

When Ted applied to sing in a beer commercial, he little realised that he would end up making national news with a singularly tuneful group of Schöffel-wearing fellow farmers, highlighting the hard work, community spirit and mental health challenges of life in farming.

“I’ve always loved singing, since I was at school,” says Ted. “Wherever I’ve been, I’ve always joined a choir – everything from a barber shop group to church choirs. Singing is uplifting.”

So when Ted saw a call-out from Jeremy Clarkson for singing farmers to apply for a paid advertising campaign for his Hawkstone beers, he sent in an audition video.

A day of singing on film soon followed, with a group of 44 tuneful farmers at Jeremy Clarkson’s pub, The Farmer’s Dog, pints in hand.

“The choir director was surprised by how good we sounded; we really weren’t bad,” Ted reflects. “So we all thought, this can’t just be over in a day…”

The suggestion was made to audition for Britain’s Got Talent, though “half of us didn’t know who half the judges were… we aren’t the target audience for Britain’s Got Talent, to be honest,” adds Ted.

“We are a real mixture of people, aged between 27 and 72, but all involved in agriculture,” he continues. “Some are intensive farmers, some have diversified, and others are retired. We have a seed salesman, a farm inspector, and Owain — one of our lead soloists — who had never sung in public in his life before and is a full-time dairy farmer, six days a week. On the other hand, another of our soloists, Rosie, is married to a farmer but in an earlier life spent a few years on stage in the West End.

Farmers are renowned for their enterprise, work ethic and adaptability, and agriculture’s paper thin profits have required many to diversify to supplement their incomes. Ted’s family farm in the Chilterns is a case in point: besides arable and sheep, the family has also converted outbuildings to office lets, and began offering guided and self-guided riding over a decade ago, as Cholsey Farm Riding. This initiative — supported by commercial partners such as Agria who provides lifetime equine insurance for horses —has given hundreds of riders the chance to enjoy his farm  and the wider region, while providing another income stream for Ted and his family. 

The road to London

Not everyone was able to rejoin the choir for its assault on national TV, as its members are scattered across Britain. Two are from Northumberland, 10 from Wales – a place renowned for its fine singing tradition – with others from Dorset, Herefordshire and beyond.

With a pre-audition video submitted to BGT, a slightly slimmed-down choir of 33 went forward to compete, catapulting the Hawkstone Choir on its way to farming folklore. Judge Amanda Holden was impressed enough to hit her Golden Buzzer, fast-tracking them to the semi-final, held live in London. The live vote for the semi-finals was shown live at Farmfest, a new show for which Agria as the official insurance partner,  and the support and emotion as the Choir were voted into the final was immense.

The choir was supported along the way by Jeremy Clarkson and Hawkstone, who helped to finance their Britain’s Got Talent travel and accommodation, as well as Lizzie Dean, an accomplished singer who has run community choirs and conducted the group on stage.

“She’s great fun and very patient with us,” Ted explains.

Also behind them was Simon Gwilliam, a composer and music director who has written a range of songs for adverts and other productions. It was Simon who wrote This is Home, the song the choir learned and performed in the Britain’s Got Talent final.

“He shared it with us all on WhatsApp back in February and asked us what we thought. We all said, ‘We LOVE that’, and immediately agreed that if we got to the final, that is what we should sing.”

Local heroes and important messages

Their victory — the first time any choir has won Britain’s Got Talent — is testament not only to the power of Jeremy Clarkson’s social media profile, but also to the public support for farmers and farming at what has been a very difficult time.

“Every member of the choir put out personalised press releases to their local media, and that snowballed. Lots of local papers and local radio carried stories about their local hero,” Ted explains.

The Hawkstone Choir evolved from advertising beer to helping spread an important message about rural community and fellowship, especially among those who work in isolated rural settings. This cause will be recognised through their £250,000 prize money.

“We want to give a substantial donation to mental health charities – that’s partly why we exist,” says Ted. “But as we’re based all around Britain, we also need quite a slug of money to keep ourselves going.”

Unsurprisingly, the choir has received all kinds of wonderful invitations following its win, from village shows to the Royal Variety Show at the Albert Hall, and recently sang in the main ring at the Royal Welsh Show.

“There is also talk about releasing an album, or a single,” adds Ted. “It’s all gone from being a lot of fun to becoming quite serious.”

“The Hawkstone Choir has become a little community,” he continues. “We all know what it means if someone tells us they have a TB test next week. But some of the banter in our WhatsApp group is hilarious. ‘Am I being quoted the right amount to shear sheep?’ It could only be a farming group.

“It’s great fun. We all thoroughly enjoy it and, if we can find a way to continue, we will.” The team at Agria offer their warmest congratulations and wait to see what lies ahead.