The burgesses of Shrewsbury refused Charles 1st offer(while staying in
the town in 1642) of what? An occasion that earned them the title
forever of `Proud Salopians`
In what year did Ironbridge B Power Station begin to operate?

It looks as if the Ironbridge B Power Station was built in the 1960s,
replacing the earlier A Power Station built in the 1930s.
<http://www.txu.com/eu/uk/environ/sus/pdf/ironbridge.pdf> found
through a Google search, "ironbridge" and "power station".
The West Midlands History of electricity Supply confirms that this was
the B power station <http://www.localhistory.scit.wlv.ac.uk/localist/meb/meb02b.htm>

The term "proud salopians" may have come about because many people in
Shrewsbury did not respond readily to Charles I's pleas for money to
help him in his war against Parliament, despite promises to repay the
money and to give titles. "Some supporters gave willingly, others,
such as Richard Newport of High Ercall, gave on the promise of titles
to come. Shrewsbury School made a loan of £600 from its funds. It was
a loan that was never repaid. Others in the town did not welcome the
King so readily, particularly the townsfolk who were forced to house
the troops without compensation."
<http://www.shropshire-promotions.co.uk/Shrews-4.html>
If this is the correct interpretation, then the term was coined
ironically, a touch if dry British humor.

How does this fit your reading?

Best, read2live

Thanks for your research on History of Shropshire. Yes, your comments
on ironbridge and `Proud Salopians` did help but, as yet, I don`t know
how to condense them into a short answer.

This page says Ironbridge B has been operating since 1970 (see table
in paragraph headed "Who runs the coal-fired power stations in England
and Wales?"):

http://www.coalresearchforum.org/n31.html

Puzzle-ga,

Since I read your question, I have been trying to dig out the precise
answers.  I am currently at about $0.01/hr, given how much time I have
been spending but then, I didn't even know where Shropshire was before
I started.

Anyhow, no precise answer on the Ironbridge thing beyond the vague "in
the 60's", but I am awaiting a reply from someone in their PR dept. 
As to the "Proud Salopian" origins, I have it on some authority (Leyla
Carrington, Shropshire Promotions, who publish a number of guides and
histories on Shropshire) that Charles I "proposed to make Shrewsbury
into a city but the inhabitants refused, saying they would rather live
in a large town than a small city, and it is this that gave their
'proud' status."

By the way, do you know the answer to these, and the other, puzzles
you post and are just testing us, or do these questions just pop into
your head?  The span of questions is quite staggering.

Since I don't have a full answer, I am posting this as a comment.  I
hope this helps.

-- tomo-ga

Hello, everyone !!!
Many thanks for all your help. Actually, I`m not just testing you,
some of the answers to my strange and varied questions I have a vague
idea about but require conformation. I bet you have been having quite
a laugh at my expense !!!!!!! I have been to the `Records and Research
Centre, Shrewsbury, but my nose was pointed in the direction of
shelves full of very thick old books,some of which I picked up and
browsed but the ones I needed were either missing or being used. I did
get the answer to 2 more questions which I haven`t asked you because
being a Salopian I should the answers. Keep trying with the ones you
have got.

Hello puzzle-ga

We most certainly haven't been having a 'laugh at your expense'. As
researchers we can't help being curious about things including our
customers' reasons for asking questions. But we are delighted with the
interesting and varied questions you ask. Please don't stop asking.
It's a pity the R and R office in Shrewsbury wasn't more help.
Tomo-ga's discovery about the city/town thing rings bells with me as
something I once heard......
Look forward to hearing from you before long with a fresh puzzle -
Leli

I really am grateful for your help and am most interested as to how
you arrive at the answers to mt odd questions. Many thanks. A few more
on the way !!!

Wow, this is still unanswered!

As you were curious about how we arrive at answers to your questions,
I can only contribute how I got my little bit about the town/city
thing.  Being a Proud Salopian, you no doubt have seen the site put up
by Shropshire Promotions:

http://www.shropshire-promotions.co.uk/

Quite an interesting site, once you figure out the navigation.  To be
blunt, before I took on this question, I hadn't a clue where
Shropshire even was, let alone it relationship to the term "Salopian".
 Anyhow, ramble, ramble, I simply emailed Tim Carrington, who founded
the site, and an assitant in his office by the name of Leyla
Carrington pinged me back.

I tried to get the power station answer from the power company that
runs it (or so I thought).  Never did get a reply.  Hmmm, I wonder if
Leyla knows the answer to that.  Let me see if she does...

According to http://search1.dti.gov.uk/cgi-bin/cqcgi/@dti.env there is
a file - dukes5_10.pdf containing basic details of all UK power
stations.

This included the following:
TXU Europe Power Ltd
Ironbridge
Year of Capacity Commission or year generation began: 1970

I was also going to add that the station appears to have been built by
Afred Macalpine (see http://www.alfredmcalpine.com/pension/page1.html)
and there was this difficult-to-understand story about it
(http://www.cadvision.com/swiftone/egg.htm).

Hope this serves to confirm leli-ga's note - but I would guess that
the documents have a common source.