Jeremy Clarkson’s Hawkstone Farmers’ Choir are dreaming far beyond the Britain’s Got Talent final, with the group revealing they hope a successful run on the ITV competition could eventually lead them to one of the biggest stages in the world — Glastonbury Festival.
The 32-member choir, made up entirely of British farmers and agricultural workers, will take to the stage in the BGT final this weekend as one of the favourites to win the competition. Victory would secure them a £250,000 prize and the chance to perform at the Royal Variety Performance in front of the King.
But for choir member Katryna Shell, there is an even bigger ambition on the horizon.
“The dream is Worthy Farm,” she said, referring to the home of Glastonbury Festival. “Farmers supporting farmers, it would be the perfect pairing.”
Katryna admitted she has never attended the famous music festival but would love her first experience to be as a performer.
“I’ve never been to Glastonbury, but it would be so cool to go for the first time and be artists,” she added.
The choir was originally created in 2024 as part of an advertising campaign for Jeremy Clarkson’s Hawkstone beer brand. What began as a fun idea soon evolved into something much more meaningful, with the group deciding to stay together after discovering the sense of community it created among farmers.
Since then, they have become passionate advocates for mental health awareness within the agricultural industry, using their platform to encourage people to seek help when they are struggling.
The singers have praised Clarkson for bringing them together and say they would love to see him cheering them on in the audience during the final.
“I’ve heard rumblings, but you never know,” choir member Ben Brooke said when asked if Clarkson might attend.
Katryna added: “If he did, I think it would just be the cherry on the top.”
Reflecting on how the choir came into existence, she said Clarkson may never have imagined what his idea would become.
“I don’t even think he anticipated what we would become. I think he thought it’ll be a laugh,” she explained.
“He’s full of such good ideas. Who thinks of making a choir to sell beer? But it works perfectly.”
She continued: “We’re proud of ourselves, but I do think he should be proud of what he’s done, because without him even coming up with that concept, we wouldn’t be here.”
The choir recently moved audiences and judges alike with their emotional performance of Bastille’s hit song Pompeii, earning praise from Simon Cowell and fellow judges Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon and KSI.
Ben admitted that the group had not always been sure how the judges felt about them.
“We’d never seen Simon before, so to hear from him was nice,” he said.
“I was never sure if KSI liked us, so to hear his comment was quite emotional, actually. You could see how many people were crying on stage. It just means so much to all of us.”
No choir has ever won Britain’s Got Talent, but the farmers believe they could become the first.
“We want to make history,” Ben declared.
If they do win, part of the prize money will be donated to agricultural charities. The group also plans to undergo professional mental health training so they can better support farmers who reach out to them for help.
Ben revealed that many people have contacted the choir after hearing them speak openly about the pressures faced by those working in farming.
“We’ve sort of become these mentors in mental health,” he explained. “We’re not professionals. We don’t know the best way.”
“We’re just trying to put the message out there that it is okay to not be okay.”
He added that the volume of messages from people seeking guidance had highlighted the need for proper training.
“The plan is to have mental health training after we finish the final, so we can all get trained properly.”
Katryna stressed that mental health challenges affect everyone, not just those working in agriculture.
“It’s not just farmers who struggle. Everybody struggles at one point or another,” she said.
“We just want to tell anybody, if you’re not feeling okay, to reach out and try and have that conversation with somebody.”
