11 Oct St Agnes Parish Bonfire Night – Celebrations On Hold For Another Year

Our two pubs (The Driftwood Spars and The Miner’s Arms) have both, with regret, decided not to host the Parish Bonfire Nights once again this year.

We’re sorry to be the bearers of bad news and that many people desperately want things to get back to ‘normal’ (as do we!) but after a summer plagued by staff shortages, and with Covid rates in the area still high, we have both decided that it simply wasn’t viable or safe to hold these community events. We (Lou & Anouska) discussed the options together and came to the same conclusion, and we’re uniting to let you know.

We have carefully considered all the options, weighing up the risks and benefits. The decision came down to two big hurdles. The first is our mutual staff shortages and the pressure this has put on the rest of our teams.

The extra pressure of these events, which require a lot of planning and people power on the night, is just too much to ask of our amazing staff, and unfair on our wonderful volunteers who lend us their precious time to help with our amazing events! 

Secondly, both The Driftwood and The Miner’s have put Covid-safety at the heart of everything we’ve done since the start of the pandemic, pulling out all the stops to keep our staff and guests safe.

We both pride ourselves on running safe businesses at the heart of our neighbourhoods here in St Agnes, and feel that hosting big gatherings could undo everything we have achieved in keeping people safe over the last 18 months. 

Once again, we are really sorry to bring you bad news – we know that people need things to look forward to right now. In the past we’ve love having hordes of you in our pubs on Bonfire night (and any other night of the year in fact!), it’s one of the community events that we miss the most.

We hope you understand, and that it won’t be long before these concerns are a distant memory.

How You Can Help:

• Help us recruit more staff. Share our vacancies with anyone who might be interested. We all know what a great place St Agnes is to live and work, so spread the word! You can find The Driftwood Spars vacancies here, or contact info@miners-arms.co.uk for details of vacancies in Mithian.
• Continue to adhere to the Hands, Face, Space guidance. The lower the rates in the parish are, the safer we’ll all be and the more viable future events will be.
• Come forward now as a volunteer for future years. These are big events to put on, so any assistance you can promise us in the future will be gratefully received and will allow us to plan ahead with confidence.