Bonfire Night in Ponteland

Here is something worth knowing before you plan your half term: Ponteland's fireworks display is actually on Bonfire Night. Not the Saturday before. Not the Sunday after. Thursday 5 November, the night itself.

That is rarer than it sounds. Almost every display in the North East this year has shifted to the nearest weekend, because a Thursday is awkward for organisers and awkward for crowds. Across the whole region we can find only three that have held their nerve and stayed on the fifth, and one of them is here in the village.

The Friends of PCPS Fireworks Display

The Friends of PCPS Fireworks Display takes place in the grounds of Ponteland Community Primary School on Callerton Lane, NE20 9EY, on Thursday 5 November. Gates open at 4.30pm and the fireworks go up at 6pm.

The hour and a half in between is the point as much as the display is. There are fairground rides, music, and hot food and drink to buy, so you can arrive in the dark, let the children burn off some energy, eat something warm and still be watching fireworks before most displays have even opened their gates.

Tickets are £5.50 plus a booking fee for anyone aged two and over, and under-twos go free. They are sold in advance through Ticketebo, so book rather than turning up hopeful.

It is worth being clear about what this is. It is a school PTA fundraiser run by the Friends of Ponteland Community Primary School, not a commercial event bought in from outside. That shapes everything about it. The tone is friendly rather than slick, you will recognise half the people in the queue, and the money raised stays in the village and goes back into the school.

Best for: Ponteland's own display, on Bonfire Night itself, for £5.50 a head.

Why the 6pm start matters

If you have small children, or anyone in the family who finds crowds and noise hard work, that 6pm start is the single best thing about this display.

Most fireworks in the region launch between 7pm and 7.30pm. Factor in gates opening an hour or two earlier, a queue to get out afterwards and the drive home, and a four-year-old is being kept up well past bedtime on a school night. Here, the display is done and you can be walking back to the car by around half past six.

The early finish also means the whole thing happens at the gentler end of the evening rather than late in the dark, which tends to suit toddlers, children with sensory difficulties, and older relatives who would rather not be standing in a field at nine o'clock in November. We would recommend it above any of the bigger, later displays for a family with children under about seven.

Best for: Best for families who find later displays too late, too long or too loud.

Practical notes

Callerton Lane is a residential road and the school car park is small, so walk in if you possibly can. Ponteland is compact enough that most of the village is within fifteen minutes on foot, and the roads around the school get congested quickly when several hundred people arrive at once.

Dress for standing still in a field in November. Wellingtons, hats and gloves, and a flask if you are the sort of household that owns one. Hot food is available on site but queues build in the half hour before the display.

If you want to make an evening of it afterwards, The Diamond Inn on Main Street and The Blackbird on North Road are both a few minutes away and serving at that hour.

Sparklers, dogs and noise

Organised displays, including this one, generally do not allow personal fireworks or sparklers to be brought in. A sparkler burns at well over a thousand degrees in a crowd of people standing shoulder to shoulder, which is the whole reason for the rule.

Dogs are much better left at home with the curtains drawn, the radio on and somewhere enclosed to hide. A field full of bangs is not a treat for them, however well they cope with thunder.

And if noise is the problem rather than the lateness, it is worth knowing that Hexham's display on Saturday 7 November has no bonfire at all and is choreographed to music, which makes it a noticeably softer experience. It is free, on The Sele, and starts at 7pm.

If you want a second night out

Bonfire Night falls on a Thursday this year, which means the surrounding weekend is unusually busy and Ponteland is well placed for most of it.

Blue Flames at Benton is the other local display on the night itself, with gates at 5.30pm and a 7.30pm display at Whitley Park. Tickets are online only with no sales on the gate. The following evening, Friday 6 November, Newcastle Racecourse at High Gosforth Park combines floodlit racing with a funfair and a fireworks and laser finale after the last race.

On Saturday 7 November the Newcastle Round Table Fireworks Extravaganza at Gosforth Sports Association opens its gates at 5pm for fireworks at around 7pm, again online only and with no parking on site. Earlier in the week, Morpeth Rugby Club lights its bonfire at 6pm on Sunday 1 November.

The full regional picture, with dates and prices for every display we have been able to confirm, is in our North East bonfire night round-up.

What about Kirkley Hall?

Kirkley Hall has hosted bonfire events in the past, including a quiet, low-noise bonfire that was unusual for the region at the time. Nothing has been announced for 2026 and we can find no evidence of one running in recent years, so treat it as lapsed unless the college says otherwise.

Know of a Ponteland bonfire or fireworks event we have missed? Get in touch via our contact page and we will add it.