World Down Syndrome coffee morning at DSCNE

This Blog post is written by our Marketing & Communications Executive from DKIT, Alyona O'Brien:

Hi everyone, a few of you have gotten to know me over the past six-weeks and it has been a great pleasure working with The Down Syndrome Centre North East during my placement time, but don't worry, there is still six more weeks to go before I wrap up my time.

On March 21st, 2025, we hosted a coffee morning at the centre in celebration of World Down Syndrome Day. This was one of my big projects during my placement at the centre and with the help of the rest of our team, the event was a huge success.

Tea and Coffee Station decorated with bakes, treats, sandwiches ready for everyone to arrive

We started off our morning promptly at 9 am getting the last minute essentials set up and ready and before we knew it 10 am quickly came with first to arrive were local Monaghan TDs and Councillors followed by DSCNE parents, grandparents, friends, family, and everyone around Louth, Cavan, Monaghan and Meath who heard about our coffee morning came to celebrate with us.

Monaghan TD’s and Councillors showing their community support. Left to right: Robert Burns, Denise Marron, Sinead Fidgeon, Colm Carthy, Matt Carthy, Mary Hall, Noel Keelan, , Ruairí Ó Murchú, Alyona O’Brien.

We had a few special guest appearance's throughout the day including our most recent charity partner Irish Life who have generously raised and donated €280,000 over 2024 . The Staff Charities Team came to the centre eager to see what DSCNE is like in real life and new amenities we added including our new room, Unit-15 affectionately known as "The Purple Room" which is an added hybrid room providing office and storage space and a dedicated area for our teens classes at weekends. The Irish Life team were delighted to see the added space, painted purple in a nod to their corporate colours and even enjoyed a hot cuppa and a few baked treats.

 Irish Life visiting DSCNE’s new office space, the “Purple Room” which will also be utilised for teen classes. Left to right: Kathy Rooney, Irish Life representatives which include Brian Duff and Paige Gernon from the Staff Charities team 2024 , Caitriona Crosby.

Our neighbours, Carrickmacross Library came for a visit which was a pleasure meeting a few of the staff and showing them around the centre, with a peaked interest in our interactive projector we have in our Green Room for everyone to enjoy when attending our centre.

Carrickmacross Library Staff checking out our interactive projector which DSCNE use as a playful learning tool.

Our coffee morning had a great buzz around and was a great pleasure meeting everyone throughout the day, I left on Friday afternoon with a huge smile on my face and lots of memories stored, eager to share what an exciting day was had.

A huge thank you to everyone who joined us on the morning, thank you to everyone who made yummy bakes and treats and a huge thank you to Homebake Café for their donation of tray bakes, croissants, scones and dandwiches. We are truly grateful for everyone's ongoing support and awareness of our centre.

Please enjoy a few more photos from the Coffee Morning below.