The 26th Annual Pooh Sticks Championship – Sunday March 29 2009
Thousands of Winnie the Pooh fans will descend on a tiny Oxfordshire village next weekend to try their hand at an unusual English tradition.
The 26th annual Pooh Sticks Championships, on the River Thames at Day’s Lock, Little Wittenham, will be held on Sunday, March 29, and competitors are gearing up to take their sticks to the water from 11am.
Inspired by AA Milne’s Winnie the Pooh novels, the event attracts crowds of up to 2,000 from all over the world.
Alyson Monk, of Rotary Club of Oxford Spires, said: “We get a lot of people coming from abroad, two German teams have entered already.
“I think it’s a very English event which you don’t get anywhere else and it’s Winnie the Pooh’s favourite game. It’s a great day out and it’s a lovely spot on the river for a picnic.”
Pooh sticks involves dropping a stick from a bridge into the river below, then racing to the other side to see which one comes out first.
Money raised will go to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, Rotary charities and Little Wittenham St Peter’s Church Roof Project. Entry costs £2 per person, £6 for a family and £10 for a team.
Source: Oxford Mail
Ever since Pooh tripped, lost grip of his fir cone on the bridge at the edge of the Forest and accidentally invented a game, poohsticks has been beloved by both young and old.
AA Milne was born in London on the 18th of January 1882. He began his writing career with humorous pieces for Punch magazine. It was in this publication, in 1923, that Winnie-the-Pooh made his first appearance in the poem Teddy Bear. Milne also wrote plays and by the time When We Were Very Young, his first book of poems for children, was published in 1924; he had already made his name as a dramatist and novelist.
Posted: March 22nd, 2009
Author: Floresiensis
Categories: AA Milne
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