Jonathan Jarrett,
Secretary,
Pembroke College Winnie-the-Pooh Society,
Pembroke College,
Cambridge,
CB2 1RF.
21/04/97
Ms. Shirley Pays,
Customer Care Officer,
Cambridgeshire County Council,
The Guildhall,
Cambridge.
Dear Ms. Pays,
I write on behalf of the Pembroke College Winnie-the-Pooh Society, of which, though you may not realise it, you are an Honorary Member. At the meeting two years ago at which your reply (to our enquiry about the possibility of closing Magdalene or Silver Street bridges to allow us to play Poohsticks) was read, you were instantly made an Honorary Member, in recognition of your sharing in the spirit of Pooh.
It is therefore with confidence in my heart, and a small piece of fluff in my right ear, that I renew our correspondence in order to ask if we may repeat our request in a slightly modified form. Due to the number of meetings we are having in the back of the College, several of our more Pooh-like members have complained about the distance to Silver Street, and wish instead to play Poohsticks using the River Pem, which of course runs in the conduit outside Pembroke. However, since the flowing of the Pem is irregular, we wondered if the Council had any control over its flowing hours, and, if so, whether you could arrange for it to be switched on at about three o’clock on Saturday 10th May, when we will be having a trial Poohsticks session before our Elevenses Meeting at four? Again, the notice is somewhat short, but my esteemed predecessor Dominic White wrote that we were "very spontaneous people" and I am happy to say that in this respect the Society has not changed.
If you cannot help us, however, can you please tell us to whom we should write about this troubling matter? Of course, if you can close the bridges for us this time we’d be ever so pleased. Please feel free to come and discuss it with us; as an Honorary Member, you are entitled to attend any of our functions, as long as you bring a mug. Hoping that all is well with you and that you have not been Bounced or Blustered since we last heard from you, we are,
The Pembroke College Winnie-the-Pooh Society
(Jonathan Jarrett, Secretary)