IT’S Bonfire Night, but in many places, there will be no celebrations.

Cancellations began in early October, when Falmouth Fire Station canned its annual fireworks display at the cricket club on the grounds that it “cannot be delivered to the standard of safety and organisation that our community rightly expects” (and you’d think the fire service would be well versed in such things).

Then Truro City Council considered moving its celebrations from Tremorvah Playing Field to the Cattle Market before shelving them altogether, citing police concerns when 4,000 people attended 2024’s bonfire. Town clerk David Rodda said the event could only work with paid crowd management and traffic control, at the expense of the amount of money raised for charities.

You might be lucky enough to see a village display. Tregony was expecting to be busy with firework seekers from Truro and Falmouth last Saturday, while this coming weekend, St Erme Community Centre will hold a ticketed event allowing no more than 1,000 people through the gates.

But organisers in Polgooth, near St Austell, declared this year’s shindig would be the last unless more people step up to help manage it. “People really do underestimate how much hard, time-consuming work goes into organising events like this: applying for permissions, arranging expensive insurance, risk assessments, health and safety, catering, advertising, locating power sources, appealing for volunteers, cash and carry runs, selling tickets - all done by volunteers who have full-time jobs and families,” said Debbie Datson.

I live close to the Truro site under debate, and am always grateful I can just trot over the road to enjoy the fireworks. Last year saw gridlock with people driving to get here and parking willy-nilly. Add to that pedestrians of all ages swarming towards the pinch-point zebra crossing to access the main gate, and you have an accident waiting to happen. I am not remotely surprised those in charge have decided it isn’t worth the risk.

Our Christmas lights switch-on has met a similar sorry end. Previously involving a countdown presided over by local celebs, Festive Friday was paid for by city centre businesses in the hope the thousands in attendance would spend money. But Truro BID announced in May that it would not be going ahead. It explained how a substantial budget is required to ensure crowd safety - by means of ample security staff, barriers, first aid providers and viewing screens - while BID manager Alun Jones cited “a limited benefit for the high street businesses who have funded the event”.

The city’s Christmas lights are already being installed and will come on automatically during the afternoon of Saturday, November 22 to coincide with the first day of Truro’s Christmas Markets.

The sheer level of anger and recrimination online is vituperative. In the main line of fire is that amorphous entity known as “the council”, which exists purely to suck the enjoyment out of life and make your kids cry. No one seems to know or care which council, city or Cornwall, is involved - if at all. It’s just an easy target for a poorly-spelled and punctuated rant.

I recall the much-missed City of Lights parade, a truly marvellous display of community creativity that gave primary schoolchildren so much to look forward to each year. It took a huge amount of voluntary work to make it happen, yet on the night, the cash in the charity tins was the equivalent of 5p per person.

When time was first called on the event, you’d have thought organisers had suggested cancelling bin collections given the staggering entitlement coursing through social media. It had transmogrified into an annual tradition and a God-given right, presumably paid for through our taxes and therefore enshrined in law.

I understand their disappointment, but as Debbie says, it takes effort, money and responsibility to put on a show like this, and I don’t see any of the keyboard warriors offering to help out.

Festive Friday attracted thousands to our bijou city centre, causing a near crush in Lemon Quay a few years ago. Meanwhile, David Rodda has alluded to “hostile vehicle movements” – someone driving a car through the crowds. It sounds unlikely, but if it happens and someone gets hurt, Facebook will be awash with people asking why the event was ever allowed to go ahead.

Residents have been encouraged to attend copper-bottomed community events, to the point they have become victims of their own success. Surely the fire service surely does not want to see a return to having bonfires in our back gardens.

Truro City Council has set up a committee to ensure a well-organised fireworks display takes place in 2026. But I do think people need to wake up and realise these events don’t come for free. They require careful consideration and investment to go ahead safely. If that means a proper gate price, so be it.