Bishop's Stortford fireworks: 2026 date still unannounced

Bishop’s Stortford has one big organised fireworks display, and on 4 September 2026 it has no date. The Bishop’s Stortford RFC display at Silver Leys on Hadham Road is not in the club’s calendar, is not on sale, and the club is currently advertising for someone to run it.

On Monday 31 August 2026 the club posted a news item headed “BSRFC Fireworks 2026 - Lead Organiser needed”. It says: “After two years leading our major fund-raising event, Kate Tanfield has stepped down from the Lead role, and we need to find a replacement.” It adds that “the majority of the activity is from September through to the event early in November”, and asks anyone interested to email the club secretary (Bishop’s Stortford RFC).

So the event is still being planned for early November. Nobody has yet said which night.

What is confirmed on 4 September 2026

The club’s ticket domain, bsrfctickets.co.uk, still redirects to the 2025 event page on Ticket Tailor, which we checked on 4 September. That page is the 2025 listing, not a 2026 one, so a redirect that looks live is not evidence of a new date.

The dates it has run, and what that suggests

The display is an annual fundraiser for the club, which is a registered charity. Its own ticketing shows the run of dates:

Every one of those is a Saturday, and the pattern is the Saturday nearest the start of November. In 2026 that leaves two candidates: Saturday 31 October or Saturday 7 November.

There is a reason to think it will not be the 31st. The club’s fixture list puts a 1st XV home match against Plymouth Albion at Silver Leys on Saturday 31 October, 1pm to 5pm, which is the exact window the fireworks gates have opened in every recent year. Nothing is booked at the ground on 7 November. That is an inference from the club’s own calendar, not an announcement, and we will replace it the moment a date is published.

What it cost in 2025

These are the 2025 prices, taken from the club’s own ticket page. Treat them as a guide, not a promise, until 2026 goes on sale:

The rules that came with them are likely to carry over, and they catch people out every year:

• Advance only. E-tickets, scanned at the gate, and no cash sales on the night.
• No on-site parking. The club asked people to park considerately and to keep Patmore Close clear, because the fire and ambulance services use it.
• No sparklers, no dogs, no re-admittance. Cash and card inside, but no £50 notes.
• Refunds only if the fireworks cannot go ahead.

The display itself has been fired by Essex Pyrotechnics, with a funfair, food trucks, a bar and live music before and after.

If you are driving, the parking page has every town-centre tariff, and the roadworks and travel page carries anything closing on the night.

Nearby displays, and their real status

Every one of these pages is still showing last year on 4 September 2026. That is normal for early September, but it means none of them is a 2026 booking yet.

• Harlow, free admission. Harlow Council runs a free bonfire and fireworks night at the Showground in Harlow Town Park. Its page still reads “Sunday 2 November 2025”, with the bonfire lit at 6.15pm and fireworks at 6.30pm, plus road closures on Fifth Avenue and parts of Park Lane and School Lane from 5.15pm to 8.30pm and four car parks made free (Harlow Council). No 2026 date has been added.
• Hertford. The Go Hertford listing for “Bonfire Night Fireworks” at Waterford Village Hall, a low-noise display, is still dated Sunday 2 November 2025 (Go Hertford).
• Stansted Mountfitchet: gone, and not coming back. A parish council page announcing fireworks at Forest Hall School still ranks well, and it is worth ignoring: it was published on 2 September 2024 and describes that year’s event. A later notice explains what happened. Burnt Mill Academy Trust got Football Association approval to lay an astro pitch on the school’s playing fields, which means they “can no longer host a fireworks event”. The council spent 2022 to 2024 looking for another site and ruled out both Elms Farm and the Recreation Ground as unsafe, “letting off hundreds of fireworks near homes and trees”. The 2024 display, the first since 2019, drew over 3,200 people and raised £3,000 (Stansted Mountfitchet Parish Council). Its events calendar has no fireworks entry anywhere in the rest of 2026 either.

When to check again

The club has never announced much before late September, and it is looking for an organiser first. Two places will show it before anyone else: the club’s news page, and bsrfctickets.co.uk, which will stop redirecting to the 2025 page when the new event opens. We will update this page with the date, the gate time and the prices as soon as they are published.