'The choir was a great lifter when the fields fell silent'

When bovine TB led to the loss of his entire herd, dairy farmer Mervyn Kelso struggled with the sadness of the empty fields and the silence of the milking yard.

It was a traumatic time for a man who had farmed his whole life, and it was hard watching his neighbours tend to their cows.

His sister suggested he should join the Farmers' Choir and that turned out to be a "great lifter".

Fast forward four years, and Mervyn has sang for the King, met musical royalty and his choir is up for a national award.

Mervyn's first batch of cows were lost in November 2021. At the same time, a friend who had been around the County Antrim farm for three generations died.

Then another 120 cows had to be removed, followed by 40 more two months later.

Mervyn and his wife Ruth, who live near Portglenone, relied on their faith for "the strength to carry on".

Mervyn would sing in church and so when the Farmers' Choir restarted in nearby Ballymena that autumn, he decided to give it a go.

He said it had been rewarding and different - a relief to the tough challenges of day-to-day farming.

"Farming is one very lonely job, even more lonely than it was a generation ago, because labour is so difficult to get," he said.

"And it's a very dangerous job, especially for a man who's working on his own.

"It has the effect of depressing you, and that's why being involved in such a thing as a choir or any social event outside farming is good for anyone."

"It was a hard time for both of us and the choir was definitely a great lifter," she said.

"It was just great to have something to lift us because you weren't busy on the farm - well, you did some extra odd jobs, but it wasn't like the usual level of busyness."