THERE are not too many people who can claim that one of the world's biggest pop stars dedicated a song to them in front of 20,000 people.But East Anglian Daily Times columnist Rhona Damant is today fortunate enough to be able to say just that.

THERE are not too many people who can claim that one of the world's biggest pop stars dedicated a song to them in front of 20,000 people.

But East Anglian Daily Times columnist Rhona Damant is today fortunate enough to be able to say just that.

For Ronan Keating dedicated a song to her while performing live on stage at Newmarket Nights on Friday night.

Performing his song, Sorry, the pop star told thousands of people in the audience that he was dedicating it to Rhona and her friends.

“It was such a great night. I'm still on a complete high,” said a delighted Rhona yesterday.

“I think the best part was when he dedicated the song to me. It was a really magic moment. There were 20,000 people there and he dedicated a song to me.''

The moment was the highlight of the evening for Rhona who had gone to the show, staged at Newmarket Racecourse, with 36 family and friends.

But what the mother-of-two, from Great Waldingfield, near Sudbury, did not know was that she would meet Ronan backstage before and after the show and watch him perform from the hospitality suite.

Rhona has come to public prominence through here weekly column, Rhona's Diary, in which she tells of how she lives with breast cancer. She was diagnosed with the disease five years ago.

Her columns have since been published in a book, Sit Down and Stop Laughing. Published by the EADT, profits from sales of the book go to Breakthrough Breast Cancer.

Rhona asked Ronan, who lost his own mother to the disease and is a great supporter of cancer charities, to write a foreword for her book.

The pop star kindly agreed and Rhona and Ronan have since met on a couple of occasions.

They first met at a concert at Wembley Arena at the end of last year but Rhona said that meeting him at Newmarket was better by far.

“The fact that he broke away from all those people to come and say goodbye to me was also special. He asked me: 'When will I see you again?'.”

“It was so different from the first time. He just came up to me, gave me a hug and started talking,” said Rhona.

“He's not someone who is all blown up with celebrity. He's just a northern Irish boy.”