The annual World Poohsticks Championships is a worldwide championship that has been held at Day's Lock on the River Thames in the UK since 1984. Following the closure of the short-lived Oxford University Poohsticks Society, Poohsticks was brought to a larger audience by the annual World Poohsticks Championships. Originally these took place at Day's Lock on the River Thames near Dorchester-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. but were later moved to Langel Common in Witney, also in Oxfordshire, and have attracted over 1,500 visitors, including many from overseas. The championships features an individual event and a four-person team event. Players come from a wide variety of countries including the United States, Japan, Kenya, Australia and England. Before its move to Witney, the event took place from Little Wittenham Bridge but now uses a bridge over the River Windrush near Cogges Manor Farm. The sporting event was started at Little Wittenham Bridge in 1984 by the lockkeeper, Lynn David, as a fund-raising event for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI). He noticed that people occasionally snapped sticks from nearby hedges to play the 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. In this championship version of the game, a finish line is set up farther downstream and the winner is the first to pass this point. The competition originally took place every January, but it was moved to March due to icy weather in 1997. Day's Lock from Wittenham Clumps (or Sinodun Hills) in summerThe event proved popular with the local community and even attracted the attention of the foreign media. After Lynn David's retirement, the running of the event was taken over by the former Rotary Club of Sinodun, based in nearby Wallingford. Additionally, the funds raised were divided between the RNLI and charitable projects supported by the Rotary Club. 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. Additionally, VisitBritain, the official British tourist board, named it as a highlight in its collection of "Quirky British Events". Throughout its existence, it has raised around £30,000 for the RNLI. 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 its members 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. The organisers announced in January 2015 that they had decided that the Little Wittenham site was no longer suitable, citing increasing logistical difficulties as the event had become more popular and the use of the land had changed. In June the World Championships were held at their new home, one of the cycle-track bridges over the River Windrush on Langel Common, near the Cogges Manor Farm Museum in Witney, Oxfordshire. The new location still retains a rural atmosphere but is a few minutes' walk from Witney town centre with its convenient public transport links to Oxford. Car parking is also much closer than at the original venue, a factor that influenced the choice of venue. For the first year at the new location, the organizers decided not to hold the 2015 team games, but team games were restored in 2016. The move to the new venue also allowed the event to move to June when the weather is likely to be better.
The annual World Poohsticks Championships is a worldwide championship that has been held at Day's Lock on the River Thames in the UK since 1984. Following the closure of the short-lived Oxford University Poohsticks Society, Poohsticks was brought to a larger audience by the annual World Poohsticks Championships. Originally these took place at Day's Lock on the River Thames near Dorchester-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. but were later moved to Langel Common in Witney, also in Oxfordshire, and have attracted over 1,500 visitors, including many from overseas. The championships features an individual event and a four-person team event. Players come from a wide variety of countries including the United States, Japan, Kenya, Australia and England. Before its move to Witney, the event took place from Li