Welcome to the web-site of Internet Lodge No. 9659.

One of the most frequently asked questions to the members of Internet Lodge is: “But how can you meet on the Internet?” The simple answer to this is: we don’t. As Internet Lodge is a Regular Lodge registered under the United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE), we hold our meetings not in cyberspace, but in real life. We meet in proper Masonic Halls, where the brethren of the Lodge, together with their Masonic guests, gather and meet just as every other regular private Lodge gathers and meets.

What sets us apart from other lodges (and explains the word Internet in the name of our lodge) is that our membership consists of freemasons from countries from all over the world, who are members in other jurisdictions which are recognized by UGLE. And as freemasonry is universally spread over the surface of the earth, we thus have members in Australia, Brazil, Canada, the Czech Republic, England, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Lebanon, the Netherlands, Scotland, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, the USA and Wales.

The internet, and especially our members-only message list, is the tool by which all those members keep in touch with each other. This they often do on a daily basis, so that, even when they are unable to meet in the flesh, the bonds of brotherhood and friendship are maintained and strengthened.

Internet Lodge is a lodge within the Provincial Grand Lodge of East Lancashire, and is officially based in Manchester (England). Our annual Installation Meetings always take place in the Masonic Hall at Bridge Street, Manchester on the third Saturday in March. But in essence we are a peripatetic Lodge, which means that our meetings are held in various locations within the jurisdiction of the United Grand Lodge of England.

Our meetings are held three or four times a year, and they provide the opportunity for our members to get together. From the date of our consecration on January 29th 1998, we have held meetings in Syon Park, Bromsgrove, Sheffield, London, Oxford, Oldham, York, Nottingham and Leicester. This year we will go to Kingston-upon-Hull, Canterbury and Bath.

In this way our members are given a unique chance to get acquainted with brethren (and Masonic Halls) all over the country. It furthermore gives local brethren, who happen to live near those locations, an opportunity to attend our meetings as visitors. This way, brethren are able to meet together who might never have had the opportunity to do so otherwise.

Of course, our members from abroad sometimes have to travel very far to attend our meetings. Some of them will perhaps only attend once in their lifetime, while others are regular attenders and seem undeterred by the stresses of international travel. I myself have the honour of being the fifth Worshipful Master of Internet Lodge and the second Master who does not live in the United Kingdom. My predecessor as Worshipful Master lives in the United States of America.

The aims of Internet Lodge are described elsewhere on this website. As each new Master of Internet Lodge brings his own unique talents to the Lodge, the emphasis will of course vary from year to year. This year’s programme will place an emphasis on history and ritual. As I am a Dutchman residing in the Netherlands and a member of a lodge under the Grand East of the Netherlands, I am very pleased that two of this year’s speakers at our Lodge meetings will be Dutchmen. As we are a non-initiatory Lodge, and therefore have some aspects of a Research type of Lodge, the business of our meetings usually includes the presentation of lectures on various Masonic subjects.

Internet Lodge makes use of the modern technology of the internet age. By doing so it strengthens the traditional bonds of friendship and brotherhood among freemasons, and by its international membership it encourages greater understanding: bringing to each those values which unite us all.

The website of Internet Lodge provides a focal point for its members, and a source of information for all others who want to learn about the Lodge, or about freemasonry in general, even for those who just want to make a passing visit. Our website can be seen as a fixed anchor point, our window to the world, in the sometime chaotic World Wide Web.

I hope that you will enjoy your visit here. If you are a first time visitor, please make an entry in our guestbook? And if you are a fellow-freemason, you are cordially invited to attend one of our meetings, so that we may enjoy the opportunity of welcoming you as a brother. Perhaps you might even wish to consider joining our Lodge. And if you would like to consider becoming a freemason, please contact our This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., who will be happy to give you more information and assist you in making contact with a lodge in your own area.

Internet Lodge – a freemasons’ compass across the globe.

W.Bro. Ab. Goedhals
Worshipful Master