Thames Lodge

ur formation was not as grand as the meeting in New York in 1843 at Sinzheimer’s coffee shop where effectively B’nai Brith was founded. However, it was monumental event and it saw the creation of a new lodge far away from the main Jewish areas in North London. The Three Thousand, Three Hundred and Thirty Fourth lodge came into being with the great assistance and guidance from our dear friend Mark Marcus.

We were consecrated in March 1993 (5753) with twenty members, coming from all of the Synagogues located in those areas constituting the southern London Boroughs and the southern Home Counties. At the end of December 2020 there are twenty-six of us including fourteen of the founder members.

We hold monthly talks hosted at members’ homes with a wide variety of speakers followed by tea and cakes. We have some great bakers in our Lodge.

Our main social events are a Summer party where the sun always shines, and a Chanukah party where the heat generated from a dozen or so chanukiot can be quite intensive.

In the wider field we have organised larger meetings inviting the wider Jewish community in our area. Topics have included Israel and Anti-Semitism.

We have also had trips out including stately homes and “Jewish“ London. Even further afield were great weekends in Lille and Antwerp.

We maybe small, but are friendly and active, and always on the lookout for new members.