Pat Larkin, a past pupil of the school had a distinguished music career as drummer in The Blades and other groups. Pat is also a writer and has written The Coalboat Kids a book of short stories .
The stories are based on events in Pat’s own childhood in Ringsend in the late sixties. The stories centre around life among the working class families and the way the children made “a few shillings” and the trouble this often got them into.
The writings of Pat Larkin are also trips into local history. This is not the history of great events but of life among the ordinary people. Most importantly the characters are pupils in St.Patrick’s BNS.
Pat’s story “The Coalboat Kids” which gives its name to the book was turned into a film in 2007. The film was directed by Graham Cantwell. It was filmed locally, with pupils from the school as extras and featured photos from our school’s archive in the opening scenes.
A few weeks ago Pat read some of his work to the fifth and sixth class and the boys gave their reactions to the stories. They knew most of the places in the stories but Pat had to explain why some places had changed or disappeared forever.
The next week Pat showed the film “The Coalboat Kids” to the pupils. The boys were very interested and thought the film was great.
Then Pat held a writing workshop. The boys wrote their own stories but did not put their names on them. Pat then chose what he found to be the most interesting one which turned out to be Lee’s. Lee then read it to the class and received a prize.
Pat’s music was not always appreciated in his native Ringsend. Look up The Story of The Blades on You Tube.
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