A FARMER has said he was “blown away” when his choir received a “golden buzzer” and was sent to the semi-finals of Britain’s Got Talent.

Ted Howard-Jones, 62, who farms at Cholsey and is secretary of the Nettlebed Farming Club, was one of the 40 farmers performing as the Hawkstone Farmers’ Choir, which was created by Jeremy Clarkson as part of an advertising campaign for his brewing firm.

Mr Howard-Jones was selected a year ago out of 500 farmers who auditioned.

The choir stuck together after enjoying the initial performance and, last October, was invited by the ITV talent show to its auditions at the Birmingham Hippodrome.

He said: “We thought, ‘This is going well, we’re really enjoying this, we can’t just do this for one day’. We wanted to do more and Clarkson agreed.

“I don’t think any farmer is expecting to be on Britain’s Got Talent, so we really didn’t know what to expect. We were amazed to be there in the first place.”

In the episode, which aired on Saturday night, judge Amanda Holden gave the group the “golden buzzer” in response to their performance of Elbow’s One Day Like This.

Mr Howard-Jones said the reaction to the performance, which also received a standing ovation from those in the live audience, has been “staggering”.

He said: “We were absolutely blown away that we even got one judge thinking we were doing the right thing, let alone the golden buzzer.

“The reaction since then has been staggering. I can’t believe how many thousands of people have liked what we’re doing.

“It’s been amazing over the last couple of days everyone in the choir said their phones have melted basically.

“It’s been very, very positive and it’s heartening to see.”

Mr Howard-Jones said organising rehearsals for the choir was like “herding cats” as members are spread out over the country. He said: “We have done very little singing together because we’re from all over the place and it’s darn difficult to get us all together.

“We learnt a song, did two days of rehearsal, we have done very little singing together because we’re from all over the place and it’s darn difficult to get us all together.

“We are sent out pieces to learn independently and then when we get together, we have all done our rehearsals.

“Most of us can sing and most of us can read music and at least follow a cue, some have a lot of experience some haven’t and literally just trying to organise our next rehearsal, which is a bit like herding cats.”

Mr Howard-Jones said the choir was now deciding what songs they would perform at the semi-finals, for which a date is yet to be confirmed.

The choir, which has used its platform to shine a light on mental health issues increasingly impacting farmers, has committed to donating prize money to a farming charity if it wins the competition.

Mr Howard-Jones said: “Mental health in farming is really important, and I know people who have really suffered.

“I have known people in farming who have committed suicide, so it is very high on my agenda and many of the others.

“It’s a very lonely issue because there are loads working on their own on farms these days, it’s not like the old days where even my small farm in the Chilterns probably would have had five guys working on it, but it’s just me now.

“It’s a very different environment now and the pressures are quite high.”

He said the choir has provided the farmers a community which is “like a family”.

He said: “We’ve got the most active WhatsApp group you’ve ever seen and we’re all in it together and people are posting stuff about what they’re doing from their lemming sheds or whoever has had an accident that day and it feels like another family and its amazing.”

Mr Howard-Jones said the choir had received many enquiries since the performance aired about bookings and hoped it could stay together.