In March 1982, the 22 Masonic units which met at the Gerrards Cross Masonic Centre were given 28 days notice to quit. The shares in the company which held the lease on the premises had been sold outside of Freemasonry and the new owners had plans to convert the premises to a night club (later called "Masons", and which didn't last very long!).

A committee was set up to find suitable alternative premises for conversion into a Masonic Centre as the two nearest existing centres - Slough and Marlow - could not accommodate all those units which now found themselves homeless. Under the Chairmanship of W. Bro. Leslie Harborne, they looked at redundant schools, discarded factories, country houses, village halls - no stone was left unturned.

Church School

In October 1984, news was received that the Old Church School, adjoining St. Mary's Church, was soon to become available as the arts and crafts group currently using it were leaving. Negotiations were started for the lease and planning permission obtained to convert the building into a Masonic & Community Centre. The negotiations were complicated by the fact that the premises are owned by two charitable trusts and needed clearance from the Charity Commissioners. However, work went ahead two years and nine months after the search started and was completed in September 1985. The centre opened in October 1985 and was dedicated on 11th November by R.W. Bro. Lt. Col. The Rt. Hon. Lord Burnham, D.L., Provincial Grand Master (brother of the present Provincial Grand Master).

New Lodges

The Centre, with its large Temple and three dining rooms, soon attracted a number of Lodges, Royal Arch Chapters and other units, and expansion continues to this day. A self contained "apartment", with its own entrance, provides a Lodge of Instruction room, with offices above which house the Provincial Grand Lodge of Buckinghamshire Secretariat.

The large, high-roofed rooms provide comfortable and airy accommodation for both Masonic and non-Masonic functions, including weddings, Ladies' Festivals and birthday parties.

The Centre is in the process of negotiating a 99 year lease which will enable further renovation and decoration to take place. Whilst a mortgage is in place to buy the lease, a Centre Appeal Fund has been holding a series of functions and events to help to reduce the debt and speed up the improvements. The Appeal ended in June 2003 having raised £125,000.