In June 1935 an open meeting was held at the George Hotel, Shrewsbury, which was addressed by Major Wilde who explained the aims and objectives of the Association.

The Circle was inaugurated in the Raven Hotel, Shrewsbury, by grand president Lieut. Colonel J Shaughnessy who was assisted by Grand Secretary Rudman and Provincial President Hillman of Birmingham 64. There were 33 founding members the first officers of the Circle were:-

President: Tom White 

Vice-president: JH Norris 

Secretary: Charles Pennington 

Treasurer: Leonard Ross 

Registrar: Bill Rumfitt 

Chamberlain: Frank Shaw

The inaugural Dinner apparently broke all conventions because not only were ladies invited but the chairman at the Dinner was his lordship the Bishop of Shrewsbury the Right Reverend A.J. Moriarty Br. Wilde who had organised the Dinner apologised to Provincial Council for “overstepping the mark”.

It has been possible to establish that because of Wilde’s interesting Shrewsbury, contact was maintained with Walsall Circle; indeed when Walsall is self was in difficulties it received effective support from Shrewsbury for example, it is recorded that on one occasion no less than 20 Shrewsbury brothers made the journey to Walsall the Circle also has strong links with Stoke, the daughter circle with whom it has had nearly 20 joint meetings.

There is every indication that in the early days “113” was an active Circle both in their pastoral sense and in promoting a sound social programme. Presidents Mass will be followed by a hearty breakfast as few Brothers could have survived until lunchtime without sustenance having fasted from midnight the previous night. The breakfast menu depended on the President and varied from Fulgonis’ Restaurant, Whitchurch to Charlton arms Hotel, Wellington. 

The tradition of parish visiting was strong and extended as far afield as Bala in North Wales, in fact, Shrewsbury were pioneers in poor parish visiting. It is now hard to imagine that Ludlow was then regarded as a poor parish. There are many instances of the Circles’ practical support of the local clergy, such as undertaking to furnish the presbytery at Plowden when the first Parish Priest arrived there.

In pre-war days entertainment at social functions was largely self-made with contributions in music and song provided by the Brothers themselves. The ladies were not greatly in evidence at the beginning, which perhaps explains the existence for a time of a ladies group which met monthly.

During the war years, meetings throughout the country were affected by the conscription of men over the age of 18 and by the evacuation of many businesses and government offices too so-called safe areas. Shrewsbury had special problems because of the unusually long distances which members had to travel to meetings, the unsatisfactory meeting place and the difficulty in establishing a regular meeting night. Lunch time meetings, as well as Sunday meetings and joint meetings, were all tried with little success. Leonard Ross was largely instrumental in keeping the Circle together at this particular time when it was meeting at the Lion and Pheasant at the bottom of Wild Cop.

The post-war years saw a steady growth in membership to a peak of 52. Provincial President Ashby reported to provincial council that he had been present at “113” meeting when thirteen new members had been installed on a single night.

Throughout the early post-war period, there were many social issues, some controversial, to which continues vigorously addressed themselves. The Circle led by Leonard Ross vigorously opposed the decision of the Local Education Authority (LEA) not to build a Catholic Secondary School with the result that Catholic children would have been transferred to local schools at the age of eleven rather than continuing in the all-age schools which existed at the time. The opposition led to letters from Cardinal Griffin to the LEA which was threatening to take parents to court if they refused to send their children to the directed school. In the face of such opposition, the LEA climbed down and the children remained in the all-age schools.

The Circle became involved in a controversy with both Grand and Provincial Councils in the early ’70s over the question of Ritual. The following is an extract from Provincial Council minutes 

“Brother A. O'Connor, the Provincial Chamberlain said that his attention had been drawn to certain changes in Ritual and Circle proceedings put in hand by Shrewsbury Circle. He had written to the Circle pointing out that this was out of order had also visited the Circle and found that the modified ritual was still in use Brother Provincial President also reported that he had visited the Circle and noted the facts brother Turley the Provincial Councillor of Shrewsbury stated that the new Ritual has been discussed and approved at the Circles AGM. Only the President wore Regalia.”

Criticism of the Circles arbitrary decision was made by the Past Grand President Harris and Grand Director J Bowen. The Provincial Secretary was instructed to write to Shrewsbury informing it that the Provincial Council strongly disagreed with the unconstitutional action which the Circle had taken. 

Although things calmed down after this, the Circle did make another attempt to revise the Ritual in 1971 because it was so displeased with the long delay by Grand Council in reviewing such matters the issue was finally resolved in October 1971 when a letter from Grand Secretary indicated that a number of changes in the Ritual proposed by Shrewsbury would be incorporated in the new manual he also indicated how please Grand Council was that the Circle took so much interest in these matters 

In 1972 the Circle asked Province for help and support because its numbers had steadily declined since the early ’60s. This request led to a meeting between Provincial Chamberlin A O'Connor and Provincial Membership Committee and 113’s Council. The latter were most impressed by the interest shown by Province. Procedures were adopted to improve membership and to gain support from other Circles despite their membership difficulties the Circle still achieved third place in the General Benevolent Trophy. 

For many, many years up to 1996 Circling Council meetings were held in the Lion Hotel, Shrewsbury, but it had also been the custom to vary the location of Council meetings across the County in order to accommodate brothers from various areas, i.e. Oswestry; Ludlow; Wellington and Whitchurch.

Information about the anniversary meeting is a little sketchy. The 100th meeting occurred in 1943, but because of wartime restrictions there were no great celebrations; certainly nothing to note has come to light in the records. The 200th was celebrated in November 1952 and according to a Birmingham 65 minute, the 300th in May 1961 but again nothing of note is recorded about either event Provincial Council minutes of 1969 indicated that a message of congratulations was sent to Shrewsbury Circle on reaching its four hundredth meeting. Tom Frain was the President when the circle reached its 500th meeting with a banquet at the Lion Hotel on the 16th of January 1978.

On the 19th of May 1980, during the presidency of John Riley, the Circle was “At Home to the Province”, the venue being the splendid setting of Western Park the home of the Earl of Bradford this was the 520th meeting and was attended by Grand President Dick Last and three past Grand Presidents.

September 1985 saw the fiftieth anniversary of the foundation of Shrewsbury with the usual ceremonies this was closely followed by the 600th celebration in May 1986. 

Brendan Mulcahy was the President at the 7th 100th meeting which was held at the Moat House Hotel in Telford on the 19th of September 1994. He had the pleasure of greeting and welcoming the Grand Vice President John Fry, Provincial President Kit Morton and four past Grand Presidents viz: Pat Coker; John Bowen; Patrick Stevens and Michael Cusack altogether there were 145 Brothers at the meeting including 31 from Shrewsbury only six on the Shrewsbury roll were missing. The Bishop of Shrewsbury, His Grace the Rt. Rev. Joseph Grey was the guest of honour at the celebration dinner. At this dinner, Jack Albutt, aged 90, was presented with an engraved decanter, two engraved glasses and two bottles of superior Brandy, to mark the occasion.

For Circle celebrated its Diamond Jubilee with a special dinner at the Lion Hotel on the 19th of September 1995, exactly 60 years to the day after its inauguration. Seventy-four visitors who included Provincial President Francis Davis and Grand President Director Jim Quinn assisted 26 Shrewsbury Brothers in their celebrations. A special plaque was presented to Jack Albutt, the sole surviving founding member. Jack, then aged 91, had celebrated his 65th wedding anniversary the week before. 

Shrewsbury's long association with the Lion Hotel ended in January 1996 when the circle moved to its venue from the Lion Hotel in the centre Shrewsbury, to the Wroxeter Hotel in Wroxeter. It was at this Hotel that the Circle was once again “At Home to the Province” in September 1996 when a magnificent four-course meal the talk of the Province for a few weeks was served for only £9 

No account of Shrewsbury would be complete without a mention of John Devaney whose generosity is renowned throughout the Province. John has served as a Circle President four times in addition to being Provincial Councillor from 1991 to 1998 the Circle has an annual golf tournament aptly named the “John Devaney Competition” which was of course donated by the man himself.