Silly Old Bear - 100 years of Winnie the Pooh

2026 marks 100 years since the publication of A.A. Milne’s timeless children’s classics, which are estimated to have sold more than 50 million copies and been translated into 50 languages.
There have been many events to mark the centenary – but this one is a bit different!

We’ll be using a wide variety of art songs, settings of Milne’s verses and readings to throw a gentle musical light on the Winnie the Pooh stories and poems which have been much loved by children and adults for a century – and we’ll include some lovely songs by A.A. Milne’s friend and neighbour, the light music composer Harold Fraser-Simson.

With Chiara Vinci (soprano), Ben Watson (actor) and William Hancox (piano). The concert takes place in the Long Room, an elegant ballroom in the Grade II listed early 18th century Kidbrooke Mansion at Michael Hall School near Forest Row.

We invite people across Sussex to submit drawings or photographs of Ashdown Forest to highlight the forest that inspired A. A. Milne’s stories. Selected submissions will be screened during the concert, and all entries will be displayed in an exhibition at the venue.