'World's shortest festival' between islands begins

A "surreal" festival is bringing 90 minutes of merriment to hundreds of people gathering on a sandbar in the Isles of Scilly. The channel between Tresco and Bryher is usually under 20ft (6m) of water, but when the sea level subsides, the Low Tide Event begins. Tom Matthews, co-organiser, told BBC Radio Cornwall: "If you can imagine a few hundred people gathering in the middle of the sea.

"We do have a klaxon because we have to say at some point, 'You really do need to go now'." 'It's surreal' The celebration began at about 11:40 BST and features picnic benches, bars on the back of tractors and food served straight from a boat at high tide. "The start is great," said Mr Matthews.



"You look out from the hillside and it's like a load of ants crawling out on to the sandbar. "It's surreal - a couple of hours ago there was 20ft (6m) of water, we're about to party, and in a couple of hours' time there will be 20ft of seawater again." Mr Matthews said "super low tides" affect the two islands, which are about 200m (656ft) apart, twice a year.

"It's probably the only festival that's dependent on air pressure, which dictates how far the tide goes out and how long we can stay on the sandbar," he said. "It's a really spectacular event." Mr Matthews said they always spent the build-up "peeking at the weather forecast", adding: "We've got it down a fine art now, basically we take everything we need out there.

" 'Incredible event' The first Low Tide Event was held in 2015 and Mr Matthews said organisers wanted to do "something you can't do anywhere else in the world". "Then we found ourselves in the position that we couldn't stop if we wanted to because people plan their holidays around it now. "It must be the world's shortest pop-up festival.

" Issy Tibbs, who lives in Bryher, said seeing "everybody come together in the middle of the channel" made it an "incredible event". Follow BBC Cornwall on X , Facebook and Instagram . Send your story ideas to spotlight@bbc.

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