Over 650 girls and volunteers from across Wales attended the Girlguiding Cymru, bumbling botanicals sleepover event at the National Botanic Gardens of Wales in Carmarthenshire on the weekend of May 20-21.
The event was a huge success, with Rainbows, Brownies, Guides and Rangers from all over Wales coming together to learn about bees, plants and flowers, make new friends, and have fun.
The girls spent the day exploring the gardens, learning about the different types of plants and flowers that grow there. They also took part in a variety of activities, such as making plant-based crafts, playing games, and raft building.
Cricket Wales and Girlguiding Cymru teamed up at the event to teach girls how to play cricket. The girls learned new skills and earned a special cricket badge.
You can learn more about our Girlguiding Cymru Cricket challenge pack here.
The Guides and Rangers also met with Dr Sian-eleri Owens of Swansea University, a leading Biomedical Research Officer. The girls learned all about cells and carried out some experiments in the science lab at the gardens.
In the evening, the girls enjoyed a campfire in the gardens and sang songs under the stars.
As night fell, the Rainbows and Brownies slept in the greenhouse. The girls slept on mats on the floor of the greenhouse, and they were surrounded by plants and flowers. They woke up to the sound of birds singing!
The girls had a great time sleeping in the greenhouse, and they said that it was a unique and memorable experience.
The Guides and Rangers slept in tents and bivvy bags around the greenhouse.
Here are some quotes from girls who attended the event:
“My favourite thing about the weekend was absolutely everything!” Efa – 63rd Cardiff Brownies
“We would give it 10 out of 10” – Isabel and Keira 1st Saron Rainbows
“We loved the raft building and the cricket. There were lots of fun skills to learn. It was cold at night but the we loved watching the stars.” – Kardha and Emma – Cwm-Pengraig Guides
Badge design winner
And the winner is... Seren Williams from 10th Barry Guides
Thank you to all the Rainbows, Brownies, Guides, Rangers and young leaders who took part in our competition to design our Girlguiding Cymru Bumbling Botanicals badge.
We were really happy to see a large number of entries from all over Wales! It was really difficult to pick one winner, the Bumbling Botanicals team were very impressed by all the entries!
Check out the winning design below. Da iawn Seren!
Girlguiding Cymru would like to thank the team at The National Botanic Garden of Wales who went above and beyond to ensure we had a fantastic event.
The event was organised by the events team of Girlguiding Cymru, we would also like to thank all our volunteers who brought their girls along.