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Peter John Hosker was born on 17 May, 1940 in Preston, and has lived and worked for virtually the whole of his life in the city. He attended Kirkham Grammar School from 1951 to 1958 before going on to read law at Manchester University from 1958 to 1961, earning an Honours Degree in Law. At school, Peter never managed to win an academic prize, but in his last year, he received a prize for the boy who had done most for the sport of the school. In fact, his record for the 110 metres high hurdles remained unbeaten for more than 40 years.

Having trained in Manchester for three years, he qualified as a solicitor in 1964, returning to Preston where he practised as a corporate and commercial solicitor in private practice. He was senior partner of Napthens for many years, and retired from private practice in 2003.

In 1994, he was appointed to the Lord Chancellor’s Appeals Service, where he is now a part-time Deputy District Chairman and Tribunal Chairman. This is now called the Tribunals Service – Ministry of Justice. This keeps Peter in touch with his professional and judicial background.

In 2000, the AvenCentral Partnership (www.avencentral.org.uk), based in the City of Preston, was tasked with the responsibility of managing, over a period of seven years (extended to eight years), a Single Regeneration Budget Fund of £20 million, awarded by the North West Development Agency. With public and private gearing this was increased to more than £50 million, and represents the largest single regeneration programme within the City of Preston.

The regeneration programme came to an end on 31 March, 2008, having focussed on the strategic objectives of education, business, health, community, crime and the environment and employment. Peter has been the Chairman of the AvenCentral Partnership and has led it from the outset. This has been an entirely voluntary appointment. He has devoted a considerable amount of his skill and expertise, and also his time and energy, in making sure that the strategic objectives are effectively achieved for the benefit of the community. Peter is pleased to have had the opportunity of leading the AvenCentral Partnership – a Freemason working in and for the benefit of ther community.

Peter is a Select Vestryman of the Churches of St John the Evangelist and St George the Martyr in Preston (the Church of St John is now a Minster), and Chairman of The Select Vestry of Preston Charity Limited. These are important churches in Preston for a number of reasons, not least of which is that they are used for many important civic purposes. The Select Vestry has made significant contributions of time and money to the fund-raising campaign, Parish Prospect Preston, to develop its ministry, its buildings and its mission to 30,000 people who come into the parish every day. This has also given Peter another avenue of service in and for the benefit of the community.

Peter was the Founder President of the Rotary Club of Preston Amounderness in 1977, and through Rotary, as a Past President, he continues to be further committed to working in and for the community, and undertaking charitable work. Indeed, a few years ago, he was given a very special award when he was named a “Paul Harris Fellow” by The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International, in appreciation of tangible and significant assistance given by him for the furtherance of better understanding and friendly relations among peoples of the world.

He is a Vice-Patron of Deafway, and has also served as a trustee of British Red Cross in Lancashire.

Since 1976 Peter has been a Governor and Trustee of the Kirkham Educational Foundation, a registered charity, and Kirkham Grammar School. Kirkham Grammar School is a very large independent, mixed, day and boarding school, with a senior school, junior school, a nursery, and a boarding house. He has served as Chairman of Governors for nine years in total, spread over two terms. He has also been Vice Chairman for a significant number of years. He retired from the board at the end of last year.

In 2006, he was appointed as a non-Executive Director of Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre Hospitals NHS Trust, and he has helped the Trust to obtain Foundation Trust Status. The Foundation Trust has a staff of approximately 4,000 and serves a population of about 330,000 residents of Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre and the 12 million holiday makers who visit every year.The hospital has been the subject of three television programmes entitled Blackpool Medics.

Peter and his wife Julie have two children, Joanne and Richard and three grandchildren. Joanne and her husband Neil live in Grindleton, Clitheroe, and have three children, namely Alexa, Lois and Sasha. Richard lives and works in Bermuda, and, when he is not sailing, both seriously and for pleasure, his job is as an Antique Furniture Restorer.

Julie is a trustee of Cancer Help (Preston) Limited, and a member of the Friends Fund Raising Group. Cancer Help has two cancer advice, information and day care centres in Preston and Garstang. It is self-sufficient and self-funding. Julie devotes a considerable amount of time in her work for Cancer Help, to ensure that it can offer free confidential support, advice and therapies to cancer patients and their carers from the time that they are diagnosed with cancer. Peter plays a supportive role in this important work.

Peter is an enthusiastic pianist, and in 2007 he passed his Grade 8 examination (the final grade) of the Association Board of the Royal Schools of Music. Peter was introduced to music early in his life by his father, a violinist, and his mother, a pianist. Peter remembers, as a young boy, enjoying Victorian style musical evenings arranged at home by his parents. He started to learn the piano at an early age, and additionally became a choirboy. His piano playing drifted somewhat in middle life, and he only returned to playing the piano seriously in 2001, when he decided to complete all the Music Grades. His favourite composer is Debussy, who died in 1918 at the early age of 56. Debussy is considered to be one of the most prominent figures working within the field of impressionist music.   

With Julie, he has travelled widely over the seven continents of the World. Their memories are extensive, and just a few special ones are mentioned below. In 1989, they were in Tiananmen Square, China, only a few days before the bloody crackdown of the demonstrations in that Square. In 1994, during their sojourn to Peru and Equador, they flew to the unique and very special Galapogos Islands. In 2003, they undertook a holiday excursion to Antarctica, following in the steps of the Freemason and explorer Ernest Shackleton. In 2006, whilst in South Africa, they were moved by a visit to Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for some 27 years.

Peter is a keen golfer playing at Royal Lytham and St Annes Golf Club. He played off a single figure handicap for many years, but his memories of long drives and single putts are distant. He also enjoys reading, preferably with a glass of good red wine to hand. He has read widely, both non-fiction and fiction. In non-fiction, he was particularly impressed with ‘Long Walk to Freedom’ written by Nelson Mandela, and with ‘The Family Story’ written by the Master of the Rolls the Rt Hon Lord Denning. Nelson Mandela changed South Africa, and Lord Denning changed the law, and in very different ways both men ‘fought’ for what they believed to be fair and right. Peter also enjoys the fictional books of Wilbur Smith, most of which are set in South Africa and Egypt.

Peter became a Freemason on 13 February, 1968, when he was initiated into the Stanley of Preston Lodge No 2600, of which he became Worshipful Master in 1979. He was proposed by Norman Hunt, a Past Assistant Provincial Grand Master, and for many years one of Peter’s partners in private practice. Peter’s father was not a Freemason, but his father-in-law was – a past member of Lilford Lodge No 3022 in Leigh.  

His talents were recognised by the Province of West Lancashire when he was appointed Provincial Junior Grand Warden in 1987 and he went on to serve as Provincial Grand Registrar in 1991. From 1990 to 1997 he served as Vice Chairman of the Preston Group, and then from 1997 to 2002 as Group Chairman. His appointment as an Assistant Provincial Grand Master of the Province of West Lancashire came in 2003, with responsibility for the Lancaster and District Group and the Furness and South Lakeland Group.

His first appointment to Grand Rank was in 1991 as Past Assistant Grand Registrar and in 1999 he was promoted to the rank of Past Junior Grand Deacon. Peter was further honoured by the United Grand Lodge of England in 2004 when he served as Senior Grand Deacon of England. He well remembers his year as an acting officer, particularly the thrill of working on the floor of Grand Lodge.

Peter is a member of several Lodges including Lathom Lodge, Lodge of Peace and Unity, Plantagenet Lodge of Installed Masters and Lonsdale Lodge of Installed Masters.

It was in 1982 that Peter was Exalted into Holy Royal Architect Chapter No 314 and served as First Principal in 1990. He has been a member of the Setantia Chapter of Installed First Principals and served the Chapter as Second Principal in 2000.

He was appointed as Provincial Grand Registrar of West Lancashire in 1992 and promoted to the rank of Past Provincial Grand Scribe Nehemiah in 1995. Grand Chapter honours followed in 1998 when he became a Past Grand Standard Bearer.

Peter derived much pleasure and satisfaction from his five years as an Assistant Provincial Grand Master, when he saw and experienced, at first hand, the considerable demands of running and managing this great Province of West Lancashire. One of his major contributions during those years was to use his skill and expertise as a commercial lawyer and his experience of charity law, to play a leading role in bringing together the seven West Lancashire Charities into one Charity – the West Lancashire Freemasons’ Charity. One of Peter’s important aims for the future is to extend our ever growing support to those less fortunate than ourselves, and he is sure that the new Charity, as it builds upon the legacy created by the old charities, will do much to achieve that aim.

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