Cygnet Fun Day 2025

Saturday 7^th June was National Cygnet Day for 2025 and we’re delighted that Cygnets and Guiders from three of the four Regions were able to come together to celebrate our special day. Cygnets from the South West Region had taken part in their Regional day only a few short weeks before hand so it was too much for them to make the journey so soon after their brilliant day in Fota.

Funtasia in Bettystown was the location again this year for the Cygnets and the buses began to arrive shortly before 10am and the excitement started to build straight away. Once we were all on site we got divided into two groups and then parted ways for the morning. While all Cygnets took part in the same activities, due to numbers we were split into separate groups and rotated through different areas.

Luckily for us the day was held completely indoors, while it got a bit hot as the day went on due to the swimming pool we all agreed that it was better than being outside in the damp and dreary weather we were having. While there was a swimming pool on site, and some of the girls were quite excited by this fact, we didn’t have that as one of our activities; asking the Guiders to give up their Saturday was felt to be enough without asking them to get into a pool to mind the girls as well.

First up for the girls we all headed upstairs; one group went into the party and disco zone and the others headed to mini golf. We had two lovely ladies in charge of our groups for the day; Aoife and Jennifer; and they were very kind and attentive to the girls throughout.

The disco zone was definitely very popular. The girls got to dance along to some of their favourite songs and the Guiders got to relive their youth with some of their favourites too! There were some dancing games and even a competition where the winners won a beautiful art box. The room had disco lights and even a disco dancing colourful floor. There were plenty of seats in the room but very few of us used them, even most of the Guiders got up to have a bit of a dance around. There were also jugs of juice on hand so that nobody got dehydrated from all that exercise. Everyone left the disco room with rosy red cheeks and smiles on their faces.

The other activity we did in the morning session was mini golf. The course was set up with nine holes and the girls loved the different hurdles and challenges on each one. Everyone was given their own golf club and ball and off they went. The holes were different lengths and sizes and each had a different obstacle to overcome, whether it was simply that there were bumps in the path, or the hole was in a difficult spot, to much bigger ones like having to hit your ball through a windmill or a massive golf ball. Again, the girls loved it all and some of the Guiders even took part on a few of the holes.

Once we had completed both of the morning sessions we all came together again for lunch, there was great chat going on as we all gathered and told each other what we had enjoyed most so far. Then we had a very special treat; we were so lucky that the Chief Commissioner had come along for the day, but not only that, it was her birthday and she thought that she had gotten away with nobody knowing about it. But, she was wrong! Thanks to Rachel for organising the cake and Suzanne for keeping Julie occupied, we managed to give her a big surprise with a rendition of Happy Birthday as she got to blow out the candles on her cake. Happy Birthday once again Chief, and thank you for spending your special day with your Guiding Family!

For the afternoon we all moved downstairs for our final two activities. Lots of the girls had a very early start to get them to our location on time and we could see even at this stage that they were beginning to run out of steam, but they valiantly went on. For the afternoon our sessions were bowling and the soft play area.

The bowling was great fun and everyone really enjoyed it. The bumpers were put up on the sides and we had the ramps in place at each of our lanes so there would be no tears. There was a bit of frustration with all the waiting because we had to take turns and some of us were a bit excitable and had to be reminded about patience, but once everyone started scoring and they could see the numbers climbing they got competitive quite quickly. We even had one or two strikes and spares to cheer about.

The soft play area is always a winner and the girls loved it. Almost all of them came out at some stage to take their jumper off because they were so hot from all of the frantic running, jumping, climbing and sliding. There was lots of laughter and waving coming from the area and it was great to see girls from different units talking to each other and helping each other on the slides and climbing frames, making new friends just as it should be.

The end of the day came a lot quicker than we thought and the Chief got to wave off all of the girls as they left and even had her picture taken with some prospective future Guiders. All in all, it was a great day and the smiling, but tired, faces were proof that the girls enjoyed themselves.

As we all know, no National Day happens without massive work from a number of people, not least of which are the office staff who help with everything from the initial booking and transport, which is all thanks to Nicola and Nicola; to designing the beautiful badges, and this year’s badge was no exception, we had so many compliments on it, so thanks to Eoin and Rob on that.

Thanks must go to the Regional Commissioners for their support and pushing the events in their regions, which is how we ensure all our events are well attended. Then there’s the fabulous teams behind each section of the organisation, so a massive thanks to the members of our National Cygnet Support Team, without them a day like this couldn’t happen; and this team have been working doubly hard this year as they’ve also just completed the new Cygnet Programme, so well done and thanks to all of them.

The final thanks, as always, must go to the Guiders who took the time out of their own busy schedules to spend their Saturday with their Cygnets, the day couldn’t have happened without your willingness to take part and bring the girls along. Thank you all, and we hope to see you all again at the next event.