Happy Birthday 2 Pooh

From Mike & June Ridley at The Pooh Corner Shop

Dear Friend of Pooh

The 79th Birthday of Winnie-the-Pooh
Celebrated at Pooh Corner on
Saturday & Sunday
11.00am to 5pm each day

Here we are again celebrating the Birthday of Winnie-the-Pooh. On the 14th October he will be 79 – and doesn’t look any older than he did when I was a little boy! June and I have decided to celebrate over the weekend so that more of you can visit and enjoy a piece of his Birthday Cake. The shop will be decorated with balloons and paper chains and there will be many half price offers available and . . June is baking four cakes – two for each day.

Talking about when I was a little boy, my brother and sister and I all have birthdays at this time of year so I often remember my childhood. When Pooh was a young ’30 something’ and when I was only ‘knee-high to a grasshopper’ I can recall when I first heard the Winnie-the-Pooh stories. They were read on the BBC radio show called ‘Children’s Hour’. If I remember correctly it was broadcast around 5 o’clock in the afternoon on the ‘light programme’ on the ‘wireless’! The voice was that of Norman Shelly and every now and then he would sing some of the ‘Hums of Pooh’. David Davis who was known at the time as ‘Uncle David’ accompanied him on the piano. Many years later I met David Davies at an evening of music held at a friends house here in Pooh Country and was thrilled to hear his enchanting voice again – not having heard it since hearing him on the radio as a child. Then, a few years later I met Norman Shelly who came back to Pooh Corner for a cup of tea. So you can see how Winnie-the-Pooh has helped me to keep in touch with my childhood and meet many interesting people.

While writing I’d like to say a thank you to all the many hundreds of you who managed to visit the special exhibition THE MAN WHO DREW POOH – The Art of E.H.Shepard held at the Ashdown Forest Visitor centre. Thanks to you it was a huge success.

If you do visit Pooh Country and it’s your first time, don’t forget to pop into the Pooh Corner shop for your FREE MAP showing the real Pooh Places. And remember – All the Pooh Places and Pooh Corner are open to the public every day without charge.

All of us look forward to seeing you.

Mike & June Ridley

Pooh Corner, High Street, Hartfield, East Sussex, TN7 4AE, UK

http://www.pooh-country.co.uk

We’ve been there…