Demi Georghiou, 62, community support officer

Songwriter Gina was partially inspired to write Strange Old World by the experiences of her dad Demetrius, a police community support officer.

Demetrius, 62, known as Dem, says his daughter was very concerned about him being a frontline worker. He recalls: “She was ringing once a day, sometimes more, to ask how I was doing.

“When she asked me to be in the group I couldn’t say no. Hearing the song for the first time reduced me to tears. It was very emotional.”

Through his work with the police, Demi was looking after vulnerable people in the community.

He says: “We were getting calls from relatives and friends saying there were elderly and at-risk people they hadn’t heard from in a while. We would knock on doors to make sure they were safe. Some were so frightened of catching Covid they weren’t even leaving the house to get food and were hungry.

“So we made sure they ate and were keeping warm.

“Some of this could be very traumatic but it made me realise I had to be strong to help others.

“I saw it as my duty to work during the pandemic.”

One of the hardest things for Demi was the fear of the unknown.

He adds: “You saw on the news that so many people were going into hospital, colleagues were catching it and I was terrified of bring it home and passing it on to my wife Christa.”

Being in the Frontline Singers has been a form of therapy for Demi, of Battle, East Sussex.

He says: “When Gina and James first had the idea of creating the choir and our auditioning for BGT, I thought ‘This is crazy. We’ve never performed together’.

“But then it made sense. At rehearsals I met some of the other people we had made the song video with and it felt like therapy talking about what we’d all been through.

“It was an amazing experience going to our BGT audition. It really felt like family coming together.”

Performing for BGT judges Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon and David Walliams has been a dream come true for Demi, who says the reality show is his favourite TV programme.

He adds: “I never thought I’d ever be on it. To appear on that show was like getting the best Christmas present ever and I enjoyed every second of it.”