ONE of Oxfordshire’s quirkiest rituals, the World Pooh Sticks Championships, has found a new home in the county.

The annual competition is set to go ahead at a new location in West Oxfordshire this year and, for the first time ever, it will be in the summer.

The Rotary Club of Oxford Spires will hold this year’s event at Langel Common in Witney on Sunday, June 7. after an appeal in the Oxford Mail.

The common, a Downton Abbey film location with its picturesque bridge over the River Windrush, lies between Witney and Cogges Manor Farm.

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Rotary club member Karen Eveleigh said: “We were delighted to receive such great publicity and support in our search for a new venue and are thrilled to have found this location in Witney.”

For 31 years the annual competition, inspired by AA Milne’s Winnie the Pooh, attracted thousands of people to Day’s Lock at Little Wittenham, near Didcot.

Some 700 competitors take it in turns to drop sticks off the bridge and “race” them to the finish.

But the event became a victim of its own success and ran out of space for 300 or more cars to park at Little Wittenham.

The rotary club announced in January that it was looking for a new home and found one less than a month later.

It will now organise the day in partnership with Cogges Manor Farm, which is planning to organise a Stick Day alongside the championships.

Cogges director Colin Shone said: “Playing Pooh Sticks is one of the most special and essential memories of any childhood.

“We are delighted to be supporting the new home for the World Championships.”

Due to the high level of boat traffic during the summer on the Thames at Little Wittenham, the Environment Agency only allowed the event to be held between October and March.

This resulted in the event having to be either postponed or cancelled due to bad weather twice in recent years.

The new location on the Windrush, which has no river traffic, will mean that the Rotary Club can hold the championships in the Summer for the first time.

Members are gearing up to hold it on June 7, subject to obtaining the council event permissions.

West Oxfordshire District Councillor Richard Langridge said: “We are thrilled that Witney has been chosen as the new venue for the World Pooh Stick Championships and we can assure them that they will be given a very good welcome.”

The annual event helps the Rotary Club to raise thousands of pounds for local, national and international charities.

The game was first played by the author and his son on a bridge in Ashdown Forest, East Sussex.

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