Events Calendar


All Section Day 2010

This year's All Section National Event took place on Saturday 20th February and was a celebration of Thinking Day. Read a report on how the day went and have a look at some of the photos from the day...


Event Dates

Starting: Saturday 20 February 2010
Ending: Saturday 20 February 2010

Details

PHOTOS FROM ALL SECTION DAY (Thinking Day Celebration 2010)

See our THINKING DAY page for more information and ideas for Thinking Day.

Dublin Diocesan HQ, Harrington St. Dublin 10:30am to 4:30pm

REPORT...

Approx 200 Cygnets, Brigini, Guides, Rangers and Guiders came together on Saturday 20th February in Dublin to celebrate World Thinking Day in style. We had representatives from Dublin, Ferns and .Cathedral Area, Northern Region

Despite the initial setback of finding out at the last minute (9.30am on Saturday morning!) that we did not in fact have the school as we thought we would, the day opened with a colourful Parade of Nations with everyone parading out of our hall, through the corridors and back in around the hall again displaying flags, costumes etc from the various WAGGGS countries. This was followed by a brief opening ceremony during which each company brought forward their Thinking Day contributions. A total of €535 was collected and this included a kind donation of €150 from Dublin Diocese’s Brigin and Cygnet section Valentine Disco. Then every section dispersed to their bases for the day’s activities.

The upstairs of the house was filled with Cygnets who spent the day between 4 fun workshops. In the morning they watched an exciting Puppet show. They then played some International games. Having had a short break for lunch they decorated Chinese fans and made some cardboard International dolls. .

The Brigin section was the one most affected by the lack of the school premises as a lot of their sessions had to take all the girls at once instead of being divided up as planned and this resulted in some delays. We would like to thank the Brigin Guiders for their co-operation in this respect. After the Parade of Nations the Brigini remained in the hall for some very lively Barn Dancing followed closely by International crafts where they made American star broaches/fridge magnets and Dream catchers.  After lunch they played a selection of International games, including an exciting parachute game, in the hall. This was followed by their dividing up in rooms to play the Food tasting board game which was designed by Gareth in the National office a number of years ago. This was very interesting as the girls tried foods from Switzerland, France, China, Mexico etc and also got some hard luck YUCK tasting if they landed on the yuck squares..

The Guides were based in the rooms around the house for the early part of the day. Half of them learnt to play African drums and the sounds coming from St. Cecilia’s were very impressive indeed, while the other half made Chinese Lanterns and learnt about Chinese culture and writing, then they swapped over. After lunch they painted their own t-shirts with a variety of logos and designs to represent Thinking Day. This was followed by a very lively Salsa  Dance session and I must say we have some great movers among those Guides!

The Rangers began their day in the old sewing room. This year we had 13 Rangers present which I think is the highest number we have had at a Thinking Day event and it was really great to see their enthusiasm as they prepared their meals for their competition. It was amazing to see them cook full meals on trangia stoves – it just shows what can be done. Once their meals were prepared and presented to the examiners for tasting they tried their hand at some Warli art which is a type of Indian Painting traditionally done on canvas. The finished products were beautiful. At lunchtime they headed off try traditional Mexico Food at Acapulco after which they returned to HQ and took part in the final part of their competition a Quiz based on the 4 countries chosen for the Competition. Prizes were then presented to Sara Curran and Laura Kirwan from Dublin Diocese.  

At the end of the day everyone returned to the main hall together for a quick Prize giving The best turned out “country” in each section won a CGI bear with a Thinking Day pin badge. The winners were Cygnets – Egypt (Buíon Francis Taylor, Dublin), Brigini – Cameroon – Buíon Mhuire na Trocaire, Arklow and Guides – India, Buíon an Leanbh Prague, Dublin.:  Everyone present received a WAGGGS Thinking Day badge/ Pin or sticker sheet depending on their section.

I would like to thank all those who undertook workshops for us and also the team members who put so much work into the preparations and planning of the day. Special thanks also to Laura and the National Office staff for their invaluable support.

We received very positive feedback from a lot of the facilitators who said that the girls were a pleasure to work with and they would love to work with them again in the future.

Mairead Quinn

International Commissioner