The first meeting of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Shropshire took place on Thursday, 22nd October 1885 at the Lion Hotel, Shrewsbury when Sir Offley Wakeman was installed as Provincial Grand Master by the Grand Secretary of England, Col. Shadwell Clarke. 

Last year it was decided that the Province would mark this anniversary by presenting a fully equipped Mini Bus to the Hope House Children’s Hospice at Oswestry, to replace the one they had presented ten years ago. The exact date of the Anniversary - Friday, 22nd October 2010 was chosen to make this presentation. An appeal went out to the members of the Province and within the year a total of £50,000 was raised. This amount not only covers the cost of the Mini Bus and equipment but will also cover the running and maintenance costs for some years to come. It is somewhat of a coincidence that Hope House Hospice also had an anniversary on the 22nd October - it was exactly 15 years since their opening.

Mr David Featherstone, Chief Executive of Hope House Hospice writes:

"When Hope House was being built in 1995 the Shropshire Masons paid for a parent’s bedroom to be completely furnished and it was on that occasion I met many of you for the first time. Subsequently, in 1999, you again came to our assistance when we realised that we needed some specialised transport to take children in wheelchairs out in small groups while they were in our care. If I remember rightly the cost of the first minibus you purchased for us was about £20,000. However, your generosity did not stop at the necessary sum. You also provided us with a significant bit extra to cover Insurance, Road Tax, maintenance and repairs. That sum saw us through the first few years of operation of the bus and it became a key feature of the stays enjoyed by many of the children – especially in the summer when we could take them out to the coast or maybe the Llangollen canal.

The bus served us well for 11 years but last year it started to deteriorate and on one memorable occasion broke down at Chester Zoo, stranding the staff and children - who all had to be recovered by other means!

So now we come to the next chapter in the relationship. When we flagged up with you the need for a new minibus, capable of dealing with the immensely heavy electric wheelchairs many of our children now use it didn’t take long for you to rise to the challenge.

The magnificent vehicle behind me – for which I have just gratefully accepted to keys – is custom built to very exacting specifications and will be a delight to use and for everyone to feel safe using."