Those among our readers who are parents will realize how difficult it is to dream up new ways for celebrating the birthdays of our children. EQ has a similar problem having established the tradition of celebrating the ‘birthday’ of the Ruse complex. David is a fan of both Winnie the Pooh and comic metaphors and by presenting the complex as a precocious and gifted child currently parented by EQ, he enabled the team to work on the theme of Christopher Robin who was - as we all know - six years old.

The Ruse complex has had a number of guardians and it was wonderful that they all came together for the birthday celebrations on 3rd October, 2011. Georgi Simeonov and Petya Varbanova from the Sofia office of EQ’s partner organisation Hope and Homes for Children (HHC) were special guests. Georgi was David’s predecessor as project manager for the complex. The three operations directors – Galya, Dessi and Milena – were all present. The Ruse complex is, in a sense, big sister to the centre of social support in Teteven (officially opened in April under our joint project with HHC). We were touched by the fact that representatives of the Teteven facility traveled all the way to Ruse for the morning event.

Now even Pooh with fluff for a brain can work out that all days have two halves but 3rd October had two halves for an important reason because we staged two birthday events. The first, targeted at grown-ups, took place at the city’s history museum while the second (for children of all ages) was staged in the open air and bright sunshine at the complex.

The museum event also had two halves in the sense that David’s talk on the main achievements of the precocious and talented six-year-old was preceded by a presentation delivered by three children who shared their experience of the 2011 activities programme with an audience that included senior representatives of the municipal authority and partners from the social services community.

The afternoon programme focused on music, dance and Pooh ‘n’ Piglet-style nonsense with EQ’s good friend Ilya Devadjiev acting as compere. We were thrilled by the participation of the teenaged rock band, Division One and the choir from Rusalka kindergarten. The Lazarovi dance group showed why the club they run for our young clients is especially popular.

Youngsters helped plant six roses in our ‘boat-garden’ before they devoured no less than six birthday cakes.

We are grateful for the support of our partners from the Open Society club, Arena Media and the director and staff of the history museum. We are touched by the birthday messages received from the State Agency of Child Protection, the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, the chairperson of the national Child Protection Commission, the regional governor’s office, the mayor of Ruse and our colleagues in the social services sector.