National Brigin Day 2025

National Brigin Day took place on Saturday 11th October in the National Stadium in Dublin. With record numbers booked for the day, and three regions present (four if we include the Chief Commissioner) it was always set to be an eventful day, and it didn’t disappoint. Before we go any further, we have to thank the office staff for all their hard work in getting the day sorted, and Nicola Kennedy-Cope deserves a special word of thanks for all her help and support on the day.

With almost 250 Brigini there on the day we knew we had to depend on the team and the leaders who came along with their girls, but this time we also had help from some Rangers and from a group of Guides from Terrenure who were helping out as part of their Chief Commissioner Award. A massive thanks to all the girls; and their leaders who suggested and encouraged them to come along on the day; we couldn’t have done it without your help.

There were a few issues that raised their ugly head even before the day began, but as is typical in CGI the leaders all mucked in to help find solutions and the girls were none the wiser; and given that one of the issues was that the planetarium arrived unable to inflate so promptly left again, it’s probably for the best that they didn’t know what they had missed, because they had just as much fun without it.

Once everyone had arrived and checked in, we had a very brief opening ceremony, just to let everyone know what was going to happen throughout the day, how the timetable would operate and to make sure they all had their coloured wristband on, very important in such a large group. Then we had some words of welcome from the Chief Commissioner before the first round of activities commenced. We had four separate activities for the girls to do throughout the day, and they all got to complete everything and went home with goodie bags stuffed.

Young Einsteins was the first activity, and all of the girls seemed to really enjoy it, feedback from the two young men that ran the activity was that the girls were all very engaged and they had some great questions too. Among other things, they learned how to make elephant toothpaste, which caused lots of laughter; got to see just how clouds are produced and the main thing they talked about was the slime; and the best part of it was that everyone got to take some home!

A real point in favour of the Young Einstein team was that rather than do four hour-long sessions which the girls could watch, they opted for eight half-hour sessions so that all of the girls could actually participate, which we all really appreciated. Definitely one to consider for an upcoming event if you’re looking for something STEAM-based.

As we were running hour-long sessions and the Einsteins were only taking 30 minutes, we supplemented the other half hour with more science; we each got to make a space rocket pop up toy and did some scientific sticker art.

The next activity was a great suggestion from Coolock unit, thanks again for the recommendation, it was our magician who was a definite favourite on the day. He was great with the girls, making sure that lots of them were involved in each session, they helped with some of his tricks and even got to try some themselves. We did have one piece of constructive criticism from one of the girls who helped with some of the tricks; she obviously saw his sleight of hand and so asked if we could make sure to have a proper magician next time, not one that does fake magic, but the real stuff. We’ll do our best!

The next activity was provided courtesy of the Terrenure Guides, they took over the entire craft session and ran it themselves; they were so good to the younger girls and helpful to the leaders as well. In this session the girls got to do three different crafts; they began by colouring in a tote bag which they could then use to take home all of their goodies from the day. The second craft was a family tree; each girl was given a tree and then some leaves, fruit and branches that they could name for different family members and then stick on the tree. Some of the girls really enjoyed this and it made their family connections a bit more real and tangible to them. The final craft may have been a bit ambitious to try and cram into our one hour slot, it was making a robot from flower pots and wire; after the first session the Guides decided to try a different tack and decided it would be best for the girls to all decorate their robots and then if they didn’t have time to finish assembling them, that could be done at their next unit meeting.

The final session of the day was what should have been a session in the planetarium, however thanks to the leaders on the day the girls got to experience a few different things; the first and last groups of the day spent time outdoors playing games that are popular with each of the units in that specific group, so they all got to play a game they knew and to learn some new games which they can now bring back to their unit. The other two groups went a little further afield and walked down to Harold’s Cross, along the canal and to the park and completed portions of both their Foot Explorer and Local History badges, well done to all involved, and again a special thanks to all the leaders for jumping in to help out.

If all of the above wasn’t enough for one day, we also got to take a group photo with the Chief Commissioner before she had to leave us and we even had a special occasion, one of the girls had a birthday on the day so we all sang happy birthday as she was presented with a cake and a present, definitely a day to remember for her.

As is always the case, we could never run such a massive day without lots of hard work from many people. Thanks as always to the office staff for the preparation work, from the badge design; which all of the girls absolutely loved; to the help with booking and organising events. Thanks to Jonny, who as always comes along and takes some wonderful shots of the day and captures all of the fun and excitement. Thanks also to the Chief Commissioner for coming all the way from Cork to spend a few hours with us, it is always appreciated. To the members of the Brigin Support Team, thanks as always for all your help in coming up with ideas for the location and the activities for the day, and also for the help on the day.  As always, the final word of thanks goes to the leaders who came along on the day with their girls; if not for you the day couldn’t go ahead, so thanks to you all on behalf of your girls, and of a thankful CGI.

Link to PDF of the Flier