The Marsh family from Faversham release song about postmaster scandal
17:06, 10 January 2024
A famous musical family has shown support for persecuted postmasters with a new song about the Horizon scandal.
The Marsh family tackled the injustice, which has received renewed attention thanks to an ITV drama, to the tune of Bonnie Tyler’s anthem Holding Out for a Hero.
The Faversham brood of six went viral in 2020 with their song about lockdown habits, and since then, have sung about issues in the news, to the melodies of well-known hits.
The latest offering includes lines such as “cases thrown out, for it’s clear no one committed a crime” and “Each case insecure, they were fraudulent, cruel and the software was faulty and lied.”
The video, filmed in the family’s living room, has been viewed 55,000 times in just one day.
The video comes as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak says the government will bring in a new law to "swiftly exonerate” and compensate victims of the scandal, which saw innocent postmasters convicted due to faulty software.
Speaking to KentOnline about the new track, dad Ben Marsh says he, his wife Danielle and their two sons and daughters, debated what track to choose.
“We thought about the theme of Postman Pat but we thought it was a little too gentle and friendly.
“In the end, Danielle thought she wanted one she could really belt.”
“We are always on the lookout for interesting subjects that we could do with a twist.”
The 47-year-old goes on: “The background is there had been the ITV drama Mr Bates Vs The Post Office.
“It showed you could cut through and send a message with the arts so it was a chance to add our voice and our rage on behalf of the postmasters.”
Daughters Tess, 11, and Ella,14, take the lead on vocals alongside their mum in the video.
Dad Ben is on piano, while Thomas, 16, played the drums and 17-year-old Alfie strummed guitar.
The musical father added: “It was really important to figure out the chorus line because it's repeated a lot in the song.
“We went with ‘they should be cleared, though’.
“You can talk about the politics and accountability but the bottom line is how ridiculously long it has taken to clear everybody.”
The topic was particularly important to Ben, as his relatives in Shetland used to work as postmasters.
He describes the profession as the “heartbeat of many communities”.
The family put the new song together in just one day, and admitted that it is “rough around the edges”.
The history lecture at the University of Kent added: “This one was only done in three takes
“It’s far from perfect but that wasn't the point of this song. It was really just about the emotion and the rage.”
The video has gained a great reaction and the Marshes have been surprised by how much support they have had.
Mr Marsh explained: “It’s flown around - especially on Twitter.
“We got quite a few emails from people interested in other campaigns and we are always getting emails from people suggesting songs.”
The singing family currently has a charity single for sale titled If This Day Comes Round.
It was made to raise funds for the Red Cross’ Gaza/Israili conflict appeal.
More than 700 branch managers were given criminal convictions over 16 years after faulty accounting software used on Post Office computers made it appear as though money was missing from their shops.
Paula Vennells, who headed the Post Office while it routinely denied there were problems with its IT system, will hand back her CBE honour after a petition signed by one million people called for her to do so.
The Post Office is wholly owned by the government and a public inquiry into the Horizon software is ongoing.