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Poohsticks

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For the band, see The Pooh Sticks.
Poohsticks Bridge in Ashdown Forest (51°05′08″N 0°05′52″E / 51.085459°N 0.097783°E / 51.085459; 0.097783)

Poohsticks is a game first mentioned in The House at Pooh Corner, a Winnie-the-Pooh book by A. A. Milne. It is a simple game which may be played on any bridge over running water; each player drops a stick on the upstream side of a bridge and the one whose stick first appears on the downstream side is the winner. The annual World Poohsticks Championships have been held at Day's Lock on the River Thames since 1984.[1]

History

Poohsticks was invented by English author A. A. Milne for his son Christopher Robin Milne.[2] The game first came to prominence when it was described in the author's book The House at Pooh Corner[3] as well as in the Disney animated featurette Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore. Winnie-the-Pooh, the protagonist of the book, accidentally drops a pine cone into a river from a bridge and devises the rules for Poohsticks. Pooh continues to play the game with the other characters, Christopher Robin, Tigger and Eeyore.[4][5]

The game was first played at a bridge located in Ashdown Forest, close to the village of Upper Hartfield, East Sussex, England. Built in 1907 and originally called Posingford Bridge, it is considered to be the bridge on which Milne and his son first played the game.[5][6] However, it is uncertain whether the game was first played at the bridge then written into the story, or vice versa.[2] The bridge maintained the public's interest and a campaign to rebuild it in the late seventies was considered important enough to feature on the BBC Nine O'Clock News. The bridge was subsequently reopened by Christopher Robin Milne and officially renamed as Poohsticks Bridge.[7]

The site was so popular that in 1999 the East Sussex county council made an appeal to Disney as the old wooden bridge had been worn down by an overwhelming number of visitors.[8] The company provided a substantial donation towards the estimated £30,000 needed to replace the bridge. Partly rebuilt in 1979, the donations from Disney, building firms and members of the public funded its complete reconstruction. The newly built and modernised bridge retained its precursor's original style.[9] A plaque was also placed to commemorate the occasion and thank those who financially contributed to the project.[6] The game can still be played in Ashdown Forest to this day and the site regularly attracts tourists from as far afield as the United States and Japan.[8] However, visitors are now advised to bring their own sticks, as previous visitors have caused damage to the trees in the vicinity.[2][10]

Rules and strategy

A game for two players or more, in the traditional version of poohsticks the participants must drop a stick simultaneously on the upstream side of a bridge and run to the other side. The winner is the player whose stick first appears on the other side of the bridge.[1] Alternatively, players may decide upon a starting point on a river and a finish line further downstream. The winner is the player whose stick first passes the finishing point.[4]

It is generally agreed that the stick must be made of organic materials, preferably willow, and not of any artificial materials.[10] All participants must drop their sticks at the same time, usually after a referee shouts "drop", "twitch" or any other agreed keyword. Additionally, no advantage may be gained through either dismantling the bridge or the use of any self-propelling stick devices.[11] The stick must be dropped, not thrown, into the water and any player who is deemed to have thrown their stick is disqualified.[10]

Poohsticks is considered to be a game of chance yet some players claim skill is involved. Some strategies involve the way in which the stick is held before it is dropped and trying to find the fastest route in the river.[5] Author Ben Schott outlined a throwing method as a winning strategy in his third book, Schott’s Sporting, Gaming and Idling Miscellany, but his method was dismissed as cheating by competition organisers.[10] In any event, the turbulence around the bridge supports make the path of the stick very difficult to predict and may vary according to the season.

The traditional game has inspired filmmakers and screenwriters and has been portrayed in the 1998 film Into My Heart with Rob Morrow and Claire Forlani, BBC sitcom To the Manor Born and also in a Marks & Spencer clothes advert where models, including Twiggy and Myleene Klass, played the game. The popularity of the game was underlined when it featured as a question on long-running British quiz series University Challenge.[5]

World Poohsticks Championships

Little Wittenham Bridge with the lock keeper's house beyond

Poohsticks was brought to a larger audience by the World Poohsticks Championships. The Championships take place annually at Day's Lock on the River Thames near Dorchester-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England and have attracted over 1,500 visitors to the event, including many international visitors.[4] The championships feature an individual event and a six-person team event.[2] Players come from a wide variety of countries including the United States, Japan, Kenya, Australia and England.[4][5][12] The event takes place from Little Wittenham Bridge which is about 100 yards (91 m) downstream of the lock.

The event was started in 1984 by the lockkeeper, Lynn David, as a fund-raising event for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI).[2] He noticed that people occasionally snapped sticks from nearby hedges to play the traditional game and he then came up with the idea of a competition to aid the charity. He put out a box of sticks and a collection box and it soon became an annual event.[5] In this version of the game a finish line is set up further downstream and the winner is the first to pass this point.[13] The competition originally took place every January but it was moved to March due to icy weather in 1997.[14]

Day's Lock from Wittenham Clumps (or Sinodun Hills) in summer

The event proved popular with the local community and even attracted the attention of the foreign media.[15] After Lynn David's retirement, the running of the event was taken over by the Rotary Club of Sinodun, based in nearby Wallingford.[5] Additionally, the funds raised were divided between the RNLI and charitable projects supported by the Rotary Club.[13] Twenty years after its first edition, the event had grown in popularity, attracting visitors from across the globe, and had been broadcast on television in countries including Russia, Japan and Czech Republic.[16] Additionally, VisitBritain, the official British tourist board, named it as a highlight in its collection of "Quirky British Events".[17] Throughout its existence it has raised around £30,000 for the RNLI.[18]

The Championships were at risk of decline when in 2008 the Rotary Club declared that its members were simply too old to stage an annual event of its size. The Sinodun president, David Caswell stated: "The trouble is there is a lot of heavy work staging the event. Some of our members are over 70, and it was just getting too much". However, the Rotary Club of Oxford Spires declared that they would continue hosting the event, thus preserving the competition for future generations. The President of Oxford Spires for 2008-2009, Liz Williamson, stressed that it should continue as the event was popular locally and demonstrated quirky English nature to a worldwide audience.[5]

Winners

The winners of both the individual and team events receive a trophy, and the second and third placed individuals and teams also receive a smaller trophy. Despite claims that the game involves skill more than luck, no team or individual has ever won the competition more than once.[5]

Year Edition Date Individual event Team event
1984 1st Annual Championships ? ?
1985 2nd Annual Championships ? ?
1986 3rd Annual Championships ? ?
1987 4th Annual Championships ? ?
1988 5th Annual Championships ? ?
1989 6th Annual Championships ? ?
1990 7th Annual Championships ? ?
1991 8th Annual Championships ? ?
1992 9th Annual Championships Sue Rayner, Wootton ?
1993 10th Annual Championships ? ?
1994 11th Annual Championships ? ?
1995 12th Annual Championships ? ?
1996 13th Annual Championships Théo Welch-King, a five year old from Abingdon[1] ?
1997 14th Annual Championships Chris Dobson, a 5 year old from Kent ?
1998 15th Annual Championships Megan McLaughlin, a 4 year old from Buckinghamshire. ?
1999 16th Annual Championships Rebecca Hu, a 7 year old from Royal Tunbridge Wells ?
2000 17th Annual Championships Blair DeBart, 18, from Brixton ?
2001 18th Annual Championships Cancelled[19] Cancelled[19]
2002 19th Annual Championships ?
2003 20th Annual Championships Becky Aran, a ten year old from Wantage[4] Australia[4]
2004 21st Annual Championships Susan Young from Didcot, Oxfordshire[13] Czech Republic[13]
2005 22nd Annual Championships ? Japan[1]
2006 23rd Annual Championships 25 - 26 March Harry Norton Shaw, an eight year old from near Abingdon[1] Team Natural Colour Cotton from Milton Keynes[1][20]
2007 24th Annual Championships Bob Jones of Carterton[12] Bears for Life from United Kingdom[20]
2008 25th Annual Championships Lydia Leece, aged ten[21] Sticking to the Prize[21]
2009 26th Annual Championships Phil Davies[22] Cytoarchitechno from Oxford[22]
2010 27th Annual Championships Cancelled - the flow was too heavy[23]
2011 28th Annual Championships 27 March, 2011 Saffron Sollit, aged nine[24]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "23rd world Pooh-sticks race held". BBC. 2006-03-27. Retrieved 2008-11-03.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Pooh, Piglet, Tigger and You". BBC. 1998-03-13. Retrieved 2008-11-03.
  3. ^ A. A. Milne. (1928) The House at Pooh Corner, London: Methuen. ISBN 0749701161.
  4. ^ a b c d e f "New 'pooh-sticks' World Champion". BBC. 2003-03-16. Retrieved 2008-11-03.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Davies, Caroline (2008-11-02). "Poohsticks fans club together to save the game". The Observer. Retrieved 2008-11-03. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  6. ^ a b "Disney to save Pooh Bridge". BBC. 1999-09-11. Retrieved 2008-11-03.
  7. ^ "A Short History of Pooh and Winnie". PoohCorner. Retrieved 2008-11-03.
  8. ^ a b "Appeal to save Winnie the Pooh's bridge". BBC. 1999-08-10. Retrieved 2008-11-03.
  9. ^ Halstead, Robin (2008-03-21). "Great escapes: Days out with a difference". The Independent. Retrieved 2008-11-03. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  10. ^ a b c d Marsh, Stephanie (2004-10-19). "Want to win at Pooh Sticks? It's all in the throw". The Times. Retrieved 2008-11-04. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  11. ^ Barritt, Owen (2003-03-21). "The Official Poohsticks Rules Of The Pembroke College Winnie-The-Pooh Society". The Pembroke College Winnie-The-Pooh Society 2000-2007. Retrieved 2008-11-04.
  12. ^ a b "It's Pooh Sticks Time!". BBC. 2007-12-23. Retrieved 2008-11-03.
  13. ^ a b c d "Czech team takes Pooh-sticks gold". BBC. 2004-03-29. Retrieved 2008-11-03.
  14. ^ "Thaw to bring wave of misery". The Independent. 1997-01-04. Retrieved 2008-11-03. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help) [dead link‍]
  15. ^ "Pooh's Pastime Noted In a Village on Thames". The New York Times. 1987-01-06. Retrieved 2008-11-03. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  16. ^ Townsend, Ian (2008-10-27). "Oxford rotary club steps in to save Pooh Sticks championship previously run by a Wallingford rotary club". Herald Series. Retrieved 2008-11-03. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  17. ^ "Quirky British Events For 2008" (PDF). VisitBritain. 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-03.
  18. ^ "Pooh sticks championships return". thisisoxfordshire. 2002-03-01. Retrieved 2008-11-03.
  19. ^ a b due to the 2001 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth crisis
  20. ^ a b "Successful return for Pooh Sticks". United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority. 2007-03-29. Retrieved 2008-11-03. [dead link‍]
  21. ^ a b 2008 World Pooh Sticks Championships Results. The Rotary Club of Sinodun. Retrieved on 2009-03-30.
  22. ^ a b Crowds enjoy pooh sticks championships. Scotland on Sunday (2009-03-29). Retrieved on 2009-03-30.
  23. ^ Ellery, Ben (27 March 2010). "Pooh sticks event cancelled". Oxford Mail. Oxford: Newsquest Media Group. Retrieved 27 March 2010.
  24. ^ "Girl wins Oxfordshire World Pooh Sticks Championships". BBC Online. Retrieved 27 March 2011.

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