THOUSANDS of competitors will gather beside the Thames on Sunday to take part in a quirky international event.

Families will dangle sticks from a bridge over the River Thames, at Days Lock, Little Wittenham, for the 27th annual World Pooh Sticks Championship.

Based on Winnie the Pooh’s favourite pastime in the AA Milne stories, competitors will drop the sticks into the water and in the hope that theirs will be the first to pass the finishing line.

The championship, which raises money for charities and local organisations, has attracted 3,000 people in the past, with entrants from as far away as the USA, New Zealand, Japan and Australia.

Organiser Liz Williamson said: “It’s such a well-loved event because it’s a simple concept. Anyone can do this – and it’s not every day you have the opportunity to be a world champion at something.

“It’s slighty mad and very English. We’ve just got our fingers crossed for good weather.”

The event was the brainchild of lock keeper, Lynn David, who noticed people playing the game and came up with the idea of a championship to raise money for his favourite charity, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.

Following the lock keeper’s retirement, the Rotary Club of Sinodun took over the running of the event until its 25th anniversary, when the baton was passed to the Rotary Club of Oxford Spires – which is behind this year’s championship.

In 1996 an official rule book was drawn up to mark the 70th anniversary of the publication of Winnie The Pooh.

It includes rules requiring tall competitors to lower their arms so that all sticks are at the same height, and requesting that sticks are dropped and not thrown.

The team events start at 11am and individual events at noon, with the last entry at 1.30pm.

Money raised goes to the RNLI, Little Wittenham Church and charities supported by the Rotary Club of Oxford Spires as well as Rotary’s Polio Plus scheme.

Entry costs £2 per person, £6 for a family and £10 for a team.

For more information, visit the website pooh-sticks.com.

bellery@oxfordmail.co.uk