Article was originally published in the Herald Express on Thursday 4th March 2010.

THE doors of Torquay's oldest Masonic Lodge swing open to the public tomorrow.

Members of St John's Lodge number 328, in Park Hill Road, are celebrating two centuries of Masonic work in the Bay.

People are invited to pop along between 9am until noon on Saturday for an open morning, with refreshments and information on offer.

The actual anniversary will be marked on Monday, when the great and good of Devon's Masons attend the Lodge. Among those going along will be the Provincial Grand Master of Devonshire, the Past Provincial Grand Master of Devonshire, an Assistant Provincial Grand Master, two Past Assistant Provincial Grand Masters, Grand Officers, present Provincial Grand Officers and numerous Past Provincial Officers.

The Worshipful Master of St John's Lodge will present Torbay Council's civic chairman with a donation for his chosen charity, the John Parkes Children's Unit at Torbay Hospital.

At Monday's celebrations there will also be a fundraising raffle, with all the proceeds going to the Masons' Teddy Bear Scheme.

David Dawson, lodge spokesman, said:

"This worthy scheme supplies teddies to children who have, for one reason or another, to spend some time in hospital. For most youngsters, visiting hospital can be quite a traumatic event, so these children receive a teddy as a comforter. For those old enough to understand, a demonstration of the procedure will be carried out on their teddy. This practice seems to reassure them that no harm will befall them."

Other charitable organisations to benefit from Masonic donations include South Devon NHS Trust, the Paediatric Diabetes Fund, and the Sarah Matheson Trust for research into MSA.

The lodge has a fascinating history, including its times through the wars and the day its records were lost in a fire.

Mr Dawson added:

"Disastrously, in 1847 a house containing our lodge records burned to the ground. All our records were lost except the Lodge Warrant, so our history from 1810 to 1848 was gone. During the past 10 years, we have managed to access ledgers and records of Provincial and Grand Lodge, and have recovered some of the missing information. But tragically for us, the secretary's Minute Book and all the detail therein was no more."

During Monday's celebration the Worshipful Master of St John's Lodge will present the Provincial Grand Master with a donation towards the Provincial Festival 2012 Fund.

He will also hand over 50 guineas, which was the amount given in 1946, to the Provincial Grand Masters personal fund.

You can read the original article on the Herald Express website - Public invited to celebrate Masons' 200th anniversary