Our Challenge:
IGG’s current building is no longer fit for purpose and does not meet the needs of a progressive organisation focused on future innovation. We currently have just two meeting rooms to serve our 11,000 members. As a national organisation providing training and support for our 2,000 volunteer Leaders, as incredulous as it may seem, IGG does not currently have a National Training Centre.
Our Solution:
But what is a challenge other than an invitation for a solution? We are now relocating to a new larger home in Dublin 24 – a warehouse that we have purchased and now need to purpose fit-out as our National Training Centre. This space, a blank canvas, will serve to amplify our reach and enhance our programmes – a hub that will extend our impact, and empower girls and young women for generations to come.
Donations of €250 or over in a year are eligible for tax relief. €250 is actually worth €362 to Irish Girl Guides – at no extra cost to you. We will email you the relevant form if this applies to you.
Thank You!
Up to 1935 Irish Guiding had no National Headquarters, but that year, Lady Powerscourt negotiated the lease of the top floor of 4 Dawson Street, which serendipitously has become Trailfinders. The office was sparse to begin with but, in a short piece taken from the history of the move, it was the many kind benefactors who made this a new home: “To 4 Dawson Street our only piece of furniture, a very small cupboard, was triumphantly removed. Our spirits were then raised by the gift of a cheerful roll of carpeting from the Deputy Chief Commissioner … The Chief Commissioner presented curtains and an invaluable table to which Mrs Lombard Murphy added a cloth, Lady Walsh a blotter and Miss de Selby an inkstand. To her we also owe gratitude for a charming little picture, and to Lady Murphy for a clock, to Miss Kenny for bookshelves, to Miss Dease and Mrs Leigh-White for a carved tray and to Mrs and Miss Beatty for the brass plate on the door.’’
Unexpectedly the lease was not renewed the following November and a new building had to be found. A new home at 28 South Frederick Street was sourced very quickly and Headquarters moved there in November 1936. Guides would hold the lease for 11 years until they moved to 16 St Stephen’s Green in 1947. In 1973 we then leased 27 Pembroke Park and bought it in 1974. Now our onward journey is to an office and warehouse building in Dublin 24, a blank canvas for us to create for the future of IGG.
We need you to become the Miss de Selbys, the Lady Walshes and the Miss Beattys – but to lend innovation instead of curtain linings, ingenuity instead of ink blotters and inspiration in place of bookshelves and brass plates and, most importantly, funding to help create a unique and productive space for our Guides, and the sisters behind them, to become the change makers of the future.