I'm sure that some of you are wondering how this site came into existence. Following approaches by myself and other Brethren our Grand Lodge have given Provinces and Lodges permission to set up pages, subject to a few limitations.

A brother of the Pride of Manston Lodge in Ramsgate Kent, Bro. Len Grimes, Certified Primo, whilst searching the Internet chanced across links to some Lodges, one of which has a visitor book. Through that visitor book I started sending Emails to the Brothers, and the replies I received were very encouraging. Most agreeing with my sentiments about the Order having an international web site to pull together the various Lodge and Province pages.

So with this in mind, I searched for Web space and found a kind sponsor, John Clarke Computing. I then started to build the web site. As I was building it news spread and I started receiving Email from brothers all over the world.

At the time of writing I've contacted all of the overseas lodges, and I am now waiting for their replies. My next step is to contact all of the United Kingdom lodges. This will take a while as it is quite expensive in postage.

I will declare that this enterprise is not a commercial one, and my sole purpose for doing this is to help to get the Order into the 21st century, to bring Brothers of the Order closer together and thus to strengthen the unity of our Brotherhood, by helping and encouraging Brethren of the Order to keep in contact.

This is as far as I have got with the project. I admit that the project is a lot bigger than expected and also is costing quite a lot. Perhaps if it takes off as it looks like it is doing, then in time those Provinces represented will contribute to its upkeep. The main cost of the moment is for the domain name raob.org, and the cost all the telephone calls updating the site.

If any brother reading this has any ideas for improving the site I would welcome their comments.