Hemel Rotary's sleigh ran 25 street routes from 22 November to 23 December last year. The 2026 calendar is not out yet; here is 2025, plus Tring's float.

If you want to know when Santa’s sleigh is coming down your road in Hemel Hempstead this Christmas, the honest answer on 1 October is that the 2026 routes have not been published yet. Last year the calendar went live on 22 October and the sleigh was out from 22 November. Below is what the organisers have published, the full 2025 schedule as a guide, and the equivalent runs in Berkhamsted and Tring.

The quick answer

  • Hemel Hempstead, Kings Langley and Abbots Langley: run by Hemel Hempstead Rotary. No 2026 dates yet. In 2025 it ran 25 evening street routes from Saturday 22 November to Tuesday 23 December, 5.30pm to 7.30pm, plus daytime stops at supermarkets and in the town centre.
  • Tring and nearby villages: the Rennie Grove Peace Santa Float. No 2026 dates yet; in 2025 it ran from Monday 1 to Sunday 21 December.
  • Berkhamsted: run by Berkhamsted Rotary. No 2026 dates yet; in 2025 it ran from 23 November to 24 December.

Hemel Rotary Santa Sleigh

The sleigh is run by Hemel Hempstead Rotary, and its own site, hemelsantasleigh.co.uk, is the only place the routes appear first. It has three tools worth knowing about: a Streetfinder, where you type your street to see whether it is on a route, a set of town maps, and a calendar listing every evening route and every static stop.

On 1 October the calendar held no 2026 events at all, and the newest post on the site was about February’s presentation evening for the charities that shared last year’s money. The timing last year gives a fair idea of when to look: the organisers posted “the route calendar is now live” on 22 October 2025, and the sleigh’s first night was Saturday 22 November.

The site describes the sleigh as touring Hemel Hempstead, Kings Langley and Abbots Langley “from late November each year”. It is a fundraiser: the organisers say the 2024 season raised £17,000 for local charities, £11,940 of it in bucket collections, and more than £150,000 since the sleigh first went out ten years ago. In February 2026, 25 collecting organisations received £320 each from the 2025 takings, with a second share-out in March.

What 2025 looked like, night by night

All times are from the organiser’s 2025 calendar. Evening routes ran 5.30pm to 7.30pm. Use this as the shape of the season, not as this year’s dates.

Date (2025) Where
Sat 22 Nov Adeyfield North
Sun 23 Nov Marlowes and Cotterells
Mon 24 Nov Abbots Langley (west)
Tue 25 Nov Warners End and Fields End
Thu 27 Nov Manor and Aspen estates
Sat 29 Nov Mini static in Claymore, Grovehill, 5.30pm; then Grovehill West
Sun 30 Nov Bennetts End, Hobbs Hill and Barnacres
Mon 1 Dec Grovehill East
Tue 2 Dec Boxmoor and Green End
Wed 3 Dec Gadebridge Road, Hammerfield and Boxmoor
Thu 4 Dec Static at Jarman Park cinema, 4pm to 7.30pm
Fri 5 Dec Boxmoor North and Counters End
Sat 6 Dec Gadebridge
Sun 7 Dec Abbots Langley (east)
Mon 8 Dec Tile Kiln Lane and North End
Tue 9 Dec Adeyfield West
Wed 10 Dec Chaulden
Thu 11 Dec Static in Marlowes near the Roundhouse, 9am to 4.30pm; then Highfield
Fri 12 Dec Woodhall Farm
Sat 13 Dec Static at Tesco, Jarman Park, 8am to 6.30pm
Sun 14 Dec Static at Tesco, Jarman Park, 9.30am to 4pm; mini static at Apsley Lock Marina, 5pm; then Belswains and Nash Mills
Mon 15 Dec Leverstock Green
Wed 17 Dec Mini static at Nisa, Crabtree Lane, 4.30pm; then Corner Hall and Apsley
Thu 18 Dec Static in Bank Court near Liberty Tea Rooms, 10am to 3pm
Fri 19 Dec Static at Sainsbury’s Woodhall Farm, 8am to 5pm; then Adeyfield East
Sat 20 Dec Static at Sainsbury’s Apsley Mills, 8am to 6.30pm
Sun 21 Dec Static at Sainsbury’s Apsley Mills, 9.30am to 4pm; mini static at the Ovaltine building, Kings Langley, 5pm; then Kings Langley
Mon 22 Dec Static at Tesco, Jarman Park, 8am to 4.30pm; then Bennetts End and Belmont
Tue 23 Dec Warners End

Two things from last year are worth carrying over. First, routes can move at short notice for weather: on 18 December 2025 the Adeyfield route was called off for bad weather and run the next evening instead, and the change went up on the sleigh’s own site the same day. Second, the sleigh takes cards, through SumUp readers carried by the collectors. When the sleigh’s SumUp account failed on 22 December, the organisers switched the readers to a partner club’s account for two days, so some card statements showed a payment to Kings Langley Bowls Club; the organisers say all of it was credited to the sleigh.

Almost every 2025 route had a named school PTA or local group collecting alongside, and every one had its own interactive map. Expect the map link on each night’s calendar entry.

Tring: the Rennie Grove Peace Santa Float

Tring’s float is not a Rotary sleigh. It is run by the hospice charity Rennie Grove Peace Hospice Care, and its page is still the 2025 one (Rennie Grove Peace). Last year Santa toured Tring, Wigginton, Cheddington, Pitstone, Castlemead and Marsworth on these evenings:

Date (2025) Area
Mon 1 Dec Grove Road area
Tue 2 Dec Dundale Road
Wed 3 Dec Silk Mill Way area
Thu 4 Dec Tring Station
Sun 7 Dec Wigginton
Mon 8 Dec Roman Park area
Tue 9 Dec Christchurch Road
Wed 10 Dec Miswell Lane area
Sun 14 Dec Tring Triangle
Mon 15 Dec Cheddington area
Tue 16 Dec Pitstone area
Wed 17 Dec Castlemead area
Sun 21 Dec Marsworth area

The 2025 page itself was not consistent about the start: its heading said Monday 1 December and its body said “starting Monday 2 December”. The night-by-night list above, with Grove Road on Monday 1 December, is the more specific of the two.

Berkhamsted

Berkhamsted Rotary runs its own Santa’s Sleigh in the town. Its organiser profile on its ticketing site still lists the 2025 season, 23 November to 24 December 2025, and the club’s website names the sleigh among its regular fundraisers without giving 2026 dates (Berkhamsted Rotary, berkorotary.org). Berkhamsted Rotary publishes its routes on its Facebook page, which we cannot check reliably, so we will add the 2026 dates here when the club puts them on its own website or ticketing page.

Before the sleigh: the switch-ons

The sleigh season follows the district’s lights. Berkhamsted’s Festival of Light is on Sunday 22 November and Tring Together’s Christmas Festival, with Father Christmas and his real reindeer, on Saturday 28 November. Hemel Hempstead’s Christmas lights switch-on has no 2026 date yet.

If you are driving into town for one of the static stops, our parking in Hemel Hempstead page has the car park charges, and the roadworks and travel page lists closures that could slow an evening route.

Still to be confirmed

  • Hemel Rotary’s 2026 route calendar. Last year it went live on 22 October.
  • The Rennie Grove Peace Santa Float’s 2026 dates for Tring.
  • Berkhamsted Rotary’s 2026 sleigh dates.

This page will be updated as each organiser publishes.

Sources