Roar and Explore

Roar and Explore is a take-over of Blair Drummond Safari Park. For 2 days, Girlguiding Scotland members will have exclusive use of the park (*apart from any members of Blair Drummond who wish to access the park), so it will be wall to wall Rainbows to Rangers!

Roar and Explore will take place on Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 September 2025 and you can choose to attend on either day. The park opens at 10am and closes at 5.30pm. Timings for registration and any Girlguiding Scotland activities are still to be confirmed, but we will share more information on this nearer the time!

You can find directions to the park on their website. Once you get to the venue, you’ll be signposted to the Girlguiding Scotland marquee tent.

There are over 300 animals to visit at Blair Drummond, including giraffes, lions, tigers, rhinos, and elephants, with keeper talks throughout the day to tell you more about your favourite animals. There is a prehistoric forest full of dinosaurs, an adventure playpark and a giant astroglide slide to have fun on. If your girls have some extra pocket money, there’s a shop for souvenirs, a mini funfair, a train and pedal boats.

The event ticket is £16 per person.

Anyone who requires special assistance will receive free admission for 1 accompanying carer. You will need to add a free ‘carer’ ticket to your order when booking your tickets, and Blair Drummond may ask you to show relevant paperwork showing entitlement on arrival at the park. This could be evidence of receipt of Adult/Child Disability Payment, a carer’s letter, a PIP letter showing that a carer is required, a ‘plus one’ travel card, or an Access Card.  In the absence of any of the above-mentioned documents, then full admission fees will need to be paid for the visit.

Anyone who is a member of Blair Drummond will receive discounted admission for £3, which covers the extras provided by Girlguiding Scotland. They will need to make sure they have proof of membership, valid at the time of the event, with them to show the safari park staff. In the absence of proof of membership or in cases of lapsed membership, the full admission fee will need to be paid for the visit.

As well as entry to the park, we will be running a safari bus service to take you around the drive through, limiting vehicle movement on site and making it safer to explore. Everyone will get an event badge and we’re currently busy negotiating some exciting extras!

If you have any ideas on what else you would like to see to make your day extra special, please email Rachel@girlguiding-scot.org.uk.

Our capacity has more than doubled since 2022 and tickets will go on sale over 4 releases to try and make the event accessible to everyone. The releases will be:

• 1pm on Monday 2 December
• 7pm on Thursday 5 December
• 9am on Saturday 7 December
• 5pm on Monday 3 March 2025

Please note that no bookings should be made for transport or anything else until you have your tickets secured. If the event is not sold out, tickets will go off-sale on Monday 30 June 2025.

Payment by credit or debit card is due at the time of booking, or within 14 days if you are paying by bank transfer. Please note that bookings are not confirmed until we have received your payment.

There are 6 ticket types:

• Saturday ticket – £16
• Saturday carer ticket – free
• Saturday Blair Drummond member ticket – £3
• Sunday ticket – £16
• Sunday carer ticket – free
• Sunday Blair Drummond member ticket – £3

You will need to decide which day you are attending on and purchase a ticket for everyone in your group, both adults and children.

Anyone who requires special assistance will receive free admission for 1 accompanying carer. You will need to add a free ‘carer’ ticket to your order when booking your tickets, and Blair Drummond may ask you to show relevant paperwork showing entitlement on arrival at the park. This could be evidence of receipt of Adult/Child Disability Payment, a carer’s letter, a PIP letter showing that a carer is required, a ‘plus one’ travel card, or an Access Card.  In the absence of any of the above-mentioned documents, then full admission fees will need to be paid for the visit.

Anyone who is a member of Blair Drummond will receive discounted admission for £3, which covers the extras provided by Girlguiding Scotland. They will need to make sure they have proof of membership, valid at the time of the event, with them to show the safari park staff. In the absence of proof of membership or in cases of lapsed membership, the full admission fee will need to be paid for the visit.

We would suggest contacting those who are due to join your unit after the summer to see if they would like to attend, and to take in ticket money. That will hopefully give you an accurate number of tickets to buy and the funds to do it, and gives the girls due to join something to look forward to!

If you are planning to purchase tickets using unit funds then, based on your waiting list, you can estimate how many tickets you would be likely to need and buy that number of tickets. If you end up with less tickets than girls who want to go, you may be able to get spare tickets from another group to accommodate everyone. And if you end up with too many tickets, it might give you an opportunity to give other girls on your waiting list a taste of what it’s like to be part of Girlguiding.

Roar and Explore is open to Girlguiding Scotland members from Rainbows through to Rangers (4-18 years old), girls who are on a waiting list and have an enquiry number, and volunteers keen to come along with them and join in the fun.

We have also now opened the event up to members in the other countries and regions of Girlguiding, and we’re excited to welcome you to Roar and Explore!

Roar and Explore is now open to members in the other countries and regions of Girlguiding. We’re excited to welcome members from Rainbows through to Rangers (4-18 years old), girls who are on a waiting list and have an enquiry number, and volunteers keen to come along with them and join in the fun!

Girls don’t have to be part of the unit to enjoy special opportunities like large-scale district, division, county or region events. Providing you have the right consent forms completed by parents and carers, you can show girls what a memorable Girlguiding event looks like!

Unfortunately, the event is only open to members of Girlguiding Scotland. If your unit isn’t going, why not ask your leader to check if there is a division or county trip going to the event that you could join?

Blair Drummond are committed to making the park as accessible as possible for visitors. They have a Changing Places toilet, free admission for carers (you will still need to book them a ticket – see the ticket information above), and access guides to help you plan your trip. Please see the park website for more information.

We will also make sure there is a dedicated quiet space for anyone who feels overwhelmed on the day.

Of course! Anyone who requires special assistance will receive free admission for 1 accompanying carer. You will need to add a free ‘carer’ ticket to your order when booking your tickets, and Blair Drummond may ask you to show relevant paperwork showing entitlement on arrival at the park. This could be evidence of receipt of Adult/Child Disability Payment, a carer’s letter, a PIP letter showing that a carer is required, a ‘plus one’ travel card, or an Access Card. In the absence of any of the above-mentioned documents, then full admission fees will need to be paid for the visit.

What would a guiding event be without a badge? Yes, there will be an event badge and, even better, it’s included in the price of your ticket!

Local clubs and trusts like Freemasons, Rotary Clubs, Inner Wheel, Lions and Round Table often make funds available to local charities. There are also some trusts and grants dedicated to towns or counties, or even related to local windfarms. Get started by doing some online research to find out what is available in your area. You could also have a look through the external funding page on our website.

Girlguiding have a UK units in need grant for units in a deprived area or experiencing financial difficulty. Units must have been running for 1 year to be able to apply, and you can apply once a year.

The Leslie Sell Charitable Trust is an independent trust fund which makes small grants to groups to help with the cost of making repairs, purchasing various items of equipment, or going on trips in the UK or overseas.

The Good Guiding Fund will next be open to applications from 24 February to 4 April 2025. You can apply for funding that you will be able to spend within 6 months. If you have received funding previously, it can’t have been within the last 18 months, and you must have completed any evaluation forms to be eligible. For more information and a full list of eligibility criteria, check the Good Guiding Fund page on our website.

Finally, SCVO have a search engine of funding opportunities for charities and community groups. Take a look at funding at your fingertips and make sure to use the filters on the left-hand side of the page to narrow your search results.

All the usual procedures for a trip away from the meeting place apply, including risk assessments, ratios, consent forms, and a home contact. There is a great guide to attending large-scale events on the Girlguiding website.

Blair Drummond have both a general park risk assessment, and guidance on risk assessments for schools and groups. This should cover most of what you need for the event itself, but we will make sure that we communicate any other risks that should be included in group risk assessments to all ticket holders.

Blair Drummond have both a general park risk assessment, and guidance on risk assessments for schools and groups. This should cover most of what you need for the event itself, but we will make sure that we communicate any other risks that should be included in group risk assessments to all ticket holders.

Our risk assessment will primarily be on our management of the event rather than re-covering the general points such as slips, trips and falls. We will, however, make sure that we communicate any other risks that should be included in group risk assessments to all ticket holders.

You can find guidance on risk assessing trips and template risk assessments on the Girlguiding website to help you make sure you’ve covered everything.

We know you will want to get your coach booked as soon as possible. The park is open from 10am and closes at 5.30pm, but the arrival and departure arrangements are still to be confirmed. We would recommend that you have some flexibility in your arrival and departure times to accommodate any staggering of arrivals and departures to manage the flow of traffic.

Please note that no bookings should be made for transport or anything else until you have your tickets secured.

We will make sure arrangements are in place for any group members being dropped off at the park or arriving by public transport.

We have arranged for a couple of coaches to pick up groups at Stirling train station, take them out to Blair Drummond and then take them back to the station at the end of the day. You can be picked up at 9.40am, 10am, 10.20am, or 10.40am and the coaches will depart the safari park again at 4pm, 4.20pm, 4.40pm, or 5pm.

These places are free, but are very limited, and you must contact Rachel@girlguiding-scot.org.uk to book places on a coach before booking tickets for Roar and Explore. Places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. Please note, these are not accessible coaches. If you require an accessible coach, let Rachel know and we will see if we’re able to arrange this.

ScotRail have a great page on everything you need to know about child tickets to help you get the best fares available.

Our safari bus service will be on hand to take you around the drive through. This helps us minimise vehicle movement on site to make it as safe and enjoyable as possible for everyone to explore the park.

With a small army of coaches and a volunteer on board to help you find out what you are seeing, there should be a bus every 10 minutes or less to help keep down queues!

No, you will have to park up and use the safari bus service. We really want to minimise cars on site to make it as safe and enjoyable as possible for everyone to explore the park!

There are a selection of food stalls and a restaurant for you to choose from – you can find out more about what’s on offer on Blair Drummond’s website. The exact details of which food items you will be able to buy will be available nearer the time. Please be aware that the outlets are spread out and there are likely to be long queues.

You do not have to buy food at the park though – you are welcome to bring packed lunches and there are plenty of places around the park to eat them, including some under cover areas.

Yes! There are plenty of places around the park to eat packed lunches, including some under cover areas. You can also buy food from the outlets or restaurant, but please be aware that the outlets are spread out across the park and will likely have long queues.

You are more than welcome to make the event part of a trip, but you will need to source your own accommodation or camping facilities.

If you haven’t taken a group on a day trip before or aren’t sure about coming along to Roar and Explore for any reason, come along to one of our online calls to chat to our lead volunteer for girl experience, Lorraine. She will be happy to answer any questions, and if we don’t have answers yet, we can get them for you!

Calls will be held on Zoom on:

• Thursday 12 December at 7pm
• Monday 13 January at 7pm

And you can book to attend by filling in our booking form.

• In addition to the information below, please read our general event terms and conditions.
• This event is open only to current members of Girlguiding Scotland, or those who are on a waiting list and have an enquiry number.
• The £16 ticket price is for entry to Blair Drummond Safari Park and an event badge. Ticket holders are responsible for arranging their own travel, snacks, packed lunches, additional fees for rides and pedalo boats, etc.
• No bookings should be made for transport or accommodation, or anything else related to the trip until you have secured tickets for your group. Girlguiding Scotland will accept no liability for bookings related to the trip.
• If you reallocate any of your tickets to another group, you must let Rachel@girlguiding-scot.org.uk know so that the numbers held at Girlguiding Scotland can be updated. This is so that we can make up packs with the right number of badges, etc and if you have not informed us then Girlguiding Scotland cannot be held responsible for groups receiving the wrong number of items.
• For those who have extra tickets they cannot reallocate in their local area, or those who need more tickets and cannot source them locally, please contact Rachel@girlguiding-scot.org.uk confirming you are happy for your email address to be shared with other groups to facilitate the ticket exchange. Girlguiding Scotland will hold a list of those looking for tickets and those with extra tickets to pass on and will put groups in touch to trade tickets, but will not take any responsibility for the exchange of money between groups or any issues arising.
• The Covid-19 situation will be monitored closely to ensure the right balance between the running of the event and the current situation, and the event may be cancelled at short notice. Please be aware that Girlguiding Scotland are unable to cover financial losses for equipment, transport etc.