Dorset farmer Ben Chick is preparing to perform in this weekend’s Britain’s Got Talent final — and he has aspirations of stardom in the padel business too!
The 27-year-old is a member of Jeremy Clarkson’s Hawkstone Farmers Choir, whose rendition of Bastille’s ‘Pompeii’ brought the house down in last weekend’s BGT semi-finals and earned the 34-strong group a landslide victory in the public vote.
Simon Cowell described the performance as “one of the most beautiful, incredible productions we’ve had on this show for years.” The choir will now take to the stage of the Hammersmith Apollo this Saturday (30 May) to compete for the £250,000 cash prize and a place on the bill of the next Royal Variety Performance.
The Hawkstone Farmers Choir was formed to raise awareness and vital funds for rural mental health and suicide prevention. The agricultural industry continues to record some of the highest suicide rates of any UK profession, and the choir has used its growing platform to keep that conversation in front of the public.
Ben is a third-generation farmer at Thorneydown Farm, a 400-hectare site in the village of Sixpenny Handley in the Cranborne Chase National Landscape, between Blandford Forum and Salisbury on the Wiltshire/Dorset border.
And it’s on the farm that his padel aspirations are founded. Ben’s diversification project to transform Thorneydown Farm includes three indoor padel courts, a New Zealand-inspired café, changing rooms and wellness facilities.
Once given planning approval, the new venue, which will be called Chalk & Padel, would be Dorset’s first rural indoor padel club.
“Farming is under huge pressure right now, and diversification has to mean building something that genuinely adds value to the area, not just surviving,” said Ben.
“This is a working farm, and it always will be. But sitting alongside the farm, we have the chance to create something this part of Dorset has never had.”
“I’ve been dealing with chronic fatigue over the past couple of years, and it completely changes how you look at life. You realise how important health, community and connection actually are. That’s what this project is built around. We want to bring an incredible sport to an area that currently has nothing, and create a place where people come not just to play, but to connect, recharge and spend proper time together.”
The validation of the planning application marks the formal start of the planning process with Dorset Council. Subject to planning approval, Chalk & Padel is targeting an opening in late 2026 or early 2027. You can follow the project’s progress at @chalkandpadel on social media.
In the short term, Ben’s priority is Saturday’s Britain’s Got Talent final. He says the journey with Hawkstone Farmers Choir has become a personal lifeline during his battle with chronic fatigue.
“The final is the biggest moment of this whole journey, but the truth is the choir already changed my life long before we got here,” Ben explains.
“I joined while I was struggling with chronic fatigue and trying to keep on top of the farm and a couple of new businesses at the same time. The rehearsals, the friendships, the shared honesty in the group, that is what has kept me going. Saturday is about taking that message to as big a stage as we can get.”
