THE FIRST ever World Pooh Sticks Championships to be held in the summer will kick off at 2pm on Sunday, June 7, organisers have announced.

A total of Six rotary clubs are now collaborating to organising the event at Witney’s Langel Common, which is expected to attract hundreds.

Cogges Manor Farm in Witney will hold a family-friendly Stick Day alongside the games.

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.”

Cogges will also hold other village fete-type attractions like tombola, hook-a-duck and a “human fruit machine”.

The championships were held at Day’s Lock on the Thames at Little Wittenham, near Didcot, for 31 years until this January.

But Organisers from the Rotary Club of Oxford Spires announced the contest had grown so successful, attracting 700 competitors each year and more spectators, that there was no longer enough capacityspace there.

They put out an appeal for a new home and Cogges Manor Farm offered the use of a bridge over the River Windrush on Langel Common.

Being held on the Windrush also means the competition can be held in the summer for the first time: when it was on the Thames, the Environment Agency would not allow organisers to close the river during the most popular boating months.

Oxford Spires president Stephen Axtell said: “We are hoping that visitors to the championships will take the opportunity to find out more about Rotary.”