Leixlip author to launch children’s book on Celtic

Maynooth Bookshop will host the launch of a new children's book called The Boy who Started Celtic on Tuesday, May 30.

Written by Leixlip based author, Alison Healy, the book is about the boy who emigrated from Sligo, aged 15, and went on to found Glasgow Celtic.

Glasgow Celtic has some of the most enthusiastic young fans in the world, but how many of them know the inspiring story of their club’s founder?

There would be no Glasgow Celtic if Andrew Kerins had not left Ireland in 1855 to seek a better life in Scotland.

The Boy Who Started Celtic tells the story of how that boy became Brother Walfrid, a Marist Brother, and started the club with like-minded people to raise funds for needy people.

The book is written by a direct descendant of Brother Walfrid. Alison Healy is his great grandniece and is a journalist and children’s book author.

“I am so delighted to be able to bring Brother Walfrid’s story to young readers,” she said.

“He came from humble beginnings and survived the Famine. When he was just 15, he sold a calf with his friend in order to raise the funds to travel to Glasgow. It can’t have been easy for a young Sligo boy arriving in Glasgow at that time, but he was determined.

“He became a Marist Brother and teacher and spent his life trying to lift people out of poverty.”

Inspiration

The Boy Who Started Celtic is a must for any young Celtic fan, but it also has a lot to say to all readers about the difference one person can make in the world.

And it looks at how some of today’s sports stars such as Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford are using sport to help improve people’s lives, just as Brother Walfrid did.

Brought to us by Scottish publishers, Argyll Publishing (€12), The Boy Who Started Celtic is available on pre-order now from thirstybooks.com, branches of Celtic Superstore, Maynooth Bookshop, Amazon and trade sales from Gardners.

Maynooth Bookshop will host an event to celebrate its launch on May 30 at 6.30pm.

Alison Healy is a writer and journalist from Ballymote, Co Sligo, who now lives in Leixlip.

This is her second children’s book. Her first, How Billy Brown Saved the Queen, was published by Little Island Books.

She also ghost wrote Queen of the Plough — the autobiography of the legendary Anna May McHugh, for Penguin. She writes for The Irish Times.