A 17-YEAR-old singer songwriter who performed a song dedicated to grandmother at his ITV Britain's Got Talent audition has made it through to the live semi-finals.

Harry Gardner, who lives in Writtle and attends school in Westcliff, will be seen by millions of television viewers on Tuesday as he remembers his nan, just days after her funeral.

Maureen McGuinness, who lived in Green Walk, Ongar, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2013.

She worked at Sainsbury's in Ongar from when the store opened until April 2013 and was the longest serving employee.

Married to Owen, they had four children.

After Maureen's diagnoses, Owen took complete care of her for the next four years.

Harry's mother, Gail, said: "She was very popular in Ongar, she was a warm Irish lady who had time for everyone. When Maureen and Gene walked up Ongar, they stopped to speak to everyone they met in their way."

Gail added: "Harry wrote the song, 'Not Alone', which he sang at his audition, when his nan began to no longer recognise him. He picked out all his wonderful memories of her to help him write the song.

"Putting his feelings into a song helped him cope with the situation as it was a difficult issue for us all to talk about.

"Harry did not really understand exactly what the effects of Alzheimer's was until his nan became ill. She lost the ability to talk about a year ago so she could no longer communicate with us.

"Harry wrote his song last year and decided to raise awareness of Alzheimer's disease.

“We got in touch with Alzheimer's Research UK as his charity. He has set himself a target of £25,000 to raise and has currently raised just over £15,000.

"The response to the song has been outstanding and he could not believe the amount of people affected by the disease, so he decided to take it to Britain's Got Talent to try and share his song with the nation.

"He could not prepare himself for the amount of people his own age who told him their grandparents also had the disease but it just was not talked about.

"Harry's nan sadly passed away the week before his performance was aired. She was 77. She was laid to rest last week in Ongar."