A Douglas firefighter is heading back into the recording studio with others from across the UK to take part in a major TV show and raise funds for charity.

Rob Henwood rejoined several members of the firefighters vocal group the Fire Tones over the weekend to record several songs, prior to taking part in the preliminary episodes of the TV talent show Britain’s Got Talent.

Rob travelled to Birmingham to record three songs, the names of which are a closely guarded secret, with 10 other singing firefighters from around the British Isles.

Once the songs have been recorded, Rob said that the producers of Britain’s Got talent will select their favourite song, which they will then sing live on television in the near future.

The Fire Tones originally formed in 2018, as the brainchild of Chris Birdsell-Jones, a firefighter from Welshpool, in Wales, to record a Christmas charity single.

He gathered together 40 fire personnel, including Rob, to record a version of the Band Aid song ’Do They Know It’s Christmas’, which raised money for the Firefighters’ Charity and Band Aid.

Rob said that they were approached to take part in the TV show this years, during which they hoped they could raise more money for several good causes.

’Recently, Britain’s Got Talent got in touch with Chris, and wondered if we would like to take part in it this year,’ said Rob.

’We said "yes, of course we would".

’Unfortunately, it’s just too difficult to get the original 40 members back together, but 10 of us are going to travel over to the UK to record.

’Once the songs are recorded the producers will select the one they would like the best, and we’ll go over and record the TV show later this month.

’From there I think we go straight through to the live studio rounds at the Palladium, in front of Simon Cowell and all the other judges.

’You never know where this will end up taking us, but the last time we recorded a song, it did really well and ended up topping some of the big download charts, such as the Amazon and iTunes charts, actually staying up there for a couple of weeks too. It also raised a lot of money for two good causes.

Rob is the island representative for the Firefighter’s Charity and also admits to being something of a keen karaoke singer when not on duty.

’It is all a bit of fun really, though,’ he said.

’I don’t know if we will record any more songs after this, but if we get through to some of the next rounds, then that will be great.’

His busy schedule means that his imminent fame will not go to his head, as he flies straight back to the island on the same day recording is finished to resume his duty.