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

Mervyn Kelso lost his whole herd to bovine TB 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. "The department decided to buy the herd out," said Mervyn. "So by March 2022 we had no stock, no milking stock or adult stock." 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. Barkley Thompson said the choir was an antidote to farmers' stresses Barkley Thompson is the musical director of the choir. He grew up on a dairy farm and remembers his father talking about people at harvest time, helping each other out then sharing "a bit of craic and banter".