Goreys Ashdown Park was as they say full to the gills last Sunday, as Denny Davitt and The Heartbeats launched their new single Mother (Precious Memories), appropriately enough on Mother's Day.

The song was two decades in the making, as Denny wrote it in 1994 when his mother Rita was battling cancer – a battle she was to lose two years later.

The emotions around it were too raw at the time, but he felt now was the right moment to revisit the song.

Denny hails from a famous musical dynasty in Ferns, Wexford. His father Christy was one of seven brothers in the Davitt showband, over a generation ago.

His brother Joe fronts the current Davitt band. His first cousin Emma Bunton is better known as Baby Spice. Denny's son Paddy plays the saxophone with the Heartbeats, completed by John Jordan on guitar, Paul Davitt on drums and John Quirke on the keyboard.

The night saw Tony Davitt open the proceedings, with a performance from Ferns' other famous musical family, the Moynihans (cousins of John Maloney of Glanbia), before Tony Kehoe announced the main act.

The new song is getting a lot of airplay and went down a storm on the night. You'll no doubt hear it soon, wherever you are. CL