Come meet Emily Sweeney, author of Dropkick Murphy: A Legendary Life!

Join us on Wednesday, September 25, 2024 at 7:30 PM for a special event. Hear about the inspiration behind the book, ask questions about the real John “Dropkick” Murphy, and even get your copy signed!

Don’t miss out on this fantastic opportunity to connect with Emily Sweeney and delve into the world of Dropkick Murphy: A Legendary Life.

Admission is free but places must be reserved, either using EventBrite or contacting the bookshop directly.

Newspapers called him the “the man with the cast-iron toes,” “the best drop-kicker in wrestling,” and “one of the mat game’s biggest box office attractions.” But Dr. John “Dropkick” Murphy’s legacy extends far beyond the wrestling ring. Decades before the Betty Ford Center became a household name — and long before the band the Dropkick Murphys named themselves in his honuor — the phrase going to Dropkick’s meant a person struggling with addiction needed help and would soon get some.

This book chronicles for the first time the unbelievable life of Dr. “Dropkick” Murphy, a professional wrestler who put himself through medical school during the Great Depression and then opened Bellows Farm, a one-of-a-kind institution that served as both a facility where elite athletes could train as well as a secluded place where down-on-their-luck alcoholics could go to sober up discreetly.

The celebrities who frequented Dropkick Murphy’s farm were many, and numerous professional athletes would go there to focus on their training and work out in his state-of-the-art gymnasium. As a result, Bellows Farm featured an unrivaled and revolving cast of colorful characters who brought it to life. Drawing on years of research and interviews, author Emily Sweeney goes behind the scenes to reveal the untold story of Murphy’s life, his farm, and the legendary events that unfolded there.

Emily Sweeney is a journalist for The Boston Globe, covering local news and writing “Blotter Tales,” a weekly column that appears in the Metro section every Sunday, and “Cold Case Files,” a new series and newsletter about unsolved crimes.

Her areas of expertise include history, crime, and technology, and she’s the author of several nonfiction books, including “Boston Organized Crime,” “Gangland Boston,” and “Dropkick Murphy: A Legendary Life.”

A proud native of Dorchester, Sweeney graduated from Boston Latin School (where she made history as the first girl ever to play on the boys’ varsity ice hockey team) and Northeastern University (where she played on NU’s championship-winning Division 1 women’s ice hockey team).

As a journalist Sweeney has written about a range of topics — from the business of mining conflict minerals to overcrowding in prisons to living conditions in state institutions for the disabled — and she’s been featured on many TV and radio programs, making appearances on Court TV, the Travel Channel, Science Channel, BBC Radio, Beat the Press, Bloomberg Radio, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the Swedish Broadcasting Corporation, NESN, and other media outlets.

She was most recently featured as a guest expert in “Bloody Boston,” a documentary series about organized crime in Boston, and she’s slated to appear in the forthcoming Netflix series “How To Become a Mob Boss.”

She currently serves on the board of directors for the New England First Amendment Coalition and the New England Society of News Editors.

www.woodbinebooks.ie/event/meet-emily-sweeney-author-of-dropkick-murphy-a-legendary-life/

Dear Parent/Guardian.

One of our areas of targeted improvement this year will be in the area of Literacy and 'reading for enjoyment'. We are asking all students to bring in a book in their bag to be accessible during breaks and class periods where they have completed their work and teachers have given permission for them to read. Please help your child to select and pack a suitable book to boost their reading enjoyment. Your support of this initiative is much appreciated. 

We were delighted to welcome Aisling O'Toole who spoke to our Beekeeping and Career Exploration classes today. Aisling very generously donated her father Pat Enright's beekeeping books to our school library for use with Dr Higgins beekeeping classes. Pat was a dedicated beekeeper who sadly passed away a number of months ago. He was a member of An Garda Síochána and an enthusiastic photographer who recorded the passing out classes from The Garda College in Templemore, Co. Tipperary for many years. Aisling spoke about her career as an Occupational Therapist and how her love for baking resulted in winning the Aldi National Brown Bread Baking competition. She outlined the journey from kitchen to supplying Dunnes Stores along with other stores such as our very own Nolans and EuroSpar here in Kilcullen. It was really interesting for our students to hear about how people's careers can evolve into other areas throughout their lives. We were very fortunate that Dr Higgins gave some of the honey her own bees produced for students to enjoy along with Aisling's Brown Bread. A wonderful insight to the importance of artisan and small businesses. 

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Our 5th year classes 5A and 5B enjoyed Chat and Connect on Monday during RE time.

Students had a tea, coffee or hot chocolate along with some nice biscuits.

It was great to have an opportunity to chat with students and check in on how 5th year is going for them so far.

All of our 5th year classes will have a number of Chat and Connect sessions throughout the year.

Wishing all 5th year students the best as they begin their Senior Cycle journey. 

Ms Mills 

The TY Community Care class of 24/25 completed their first action. The class split into groups and each took an area of the school grounds. This was all with the aim of making our school community a cleaner and safer place. They returned with bags full of litter/rubbish. This is also an appeal to all students to please dispose of their rubbish properly during school break and lunch. 

We were delighted today to invite our 5th and 6th year Leaving Cert Applied parents to join us in school for some refreshments and an important information session on the programme.

Parents and students had an opportunity to view Art, Graphics, HCT and other Task work on display.

A number of teachers spoke about their subject areas and how students can ensure they achieve their best in their subject.

Two of our 6th year students Eleanor and Alan also spoke about success in LCA and provided very valuable tips for our 5th year students. 

Mr Leonard congratulated our students on settling in so well and wished them all the best in the year ahead. 

Wishing our LCA students a fantastic and successful year ahead. 

Ms Mills  

We bid Auf Wiedersehen today to Julia and Christian from https://bmmgesamtschule.de our Partner School in Germany. They came to CPC to meet teachers and students taking part in the Erasmus exchange programme to Germany later this year. Their visit included a professional development assignment giving them the opportunity to observe a variety of subjects and get a taste of life in CPC. They had lots of praise for the teaching and learning practices observed and they have a few takeaways to embed in their classrooms back home. We look forward to seeing them again very soon in Germany. 

Congratulations to our 22 Transition Year students who successfully completed their TY Prefect Training on Tuesday 16th September with the facilitator Mr Pat Murphy in the Kilcullen Parish Centre. Pat was very impressed with the initiative shown by our students and their willingness to be active in our school life. The students examined the leadership qualities necessary to be effective school student leaders and the importance of their roles as role models in our school community. Our TY Prefects are involved in six areas of school leadership in CPC. These include lunchtime games with first years, sports coordination, school representatives, school events organisation, link with AS classes (Buddy Club), helping senior school leadership when organising parent teacher meetings and school communication.

Congratulations 

4A: Sean Cahill, Lucy Curtis, Harry Davies, Julia Loboz, Bethany Swaine.

4B: Eyad Amr, Ruby Butler, Daniel Morgan, Nicola Pytel, Weronika Stepniak.

4C: Sarah Brennan, Amy Egan, Niamh Flynn, Robyn Foster, Cadhla O'Brien.

4D: Rose Hayes, Darragh Keenan, Zoe Moran, Gemma Snell-Fox, Lochlann Wafer.

4E: Kayden Casey, Faye McNally.

Many thanks to Pat for his excellent guidance and advice. We wish our newly appointed TY Prefects the best of luck in this important role. The school community of CPC look forward to seeing them bring their great energy and positivity to school life!