~ since 1964 ~
Ringwood ExTablers
Ringwood Ex-Tablers stand with Ukraine
The History of Tabling
The Beginning of "Round Table"
Round Table was formed after being inspired by a speech by the then Prince of Wales in 1927 to the British Industries Fair when he said :
"The young business and professional men of this country must get together round the table, adopt methods that have proved so sound in the past, adapt them to the changing needs of the times and wherever possible, improve them"
Round Table not only took its name from this speech but also the keys words "Adopt, Adapt, Improve" as its motto.
This was in March 1927, when a young Rotarian by the name of Louis Marchesi became aware of the lack of opportunities for the young businessmen of the day to meet and prepare themselves for their responsibilities as senior businessmen in later years. Being a member of Norwich Rotary Club he found himself surrounded by older men, so he started a club for young men in the age range of 28 to 40 to give them the right environment to develop their professional and civic skills whilst assisting the local community, the nation and later the world as a whole.
"The Association of Ex-Tablers' Club" also known as "41 Club"
41 Club is the commonly used name for The Association of Ex-Tablers' Clubs and is part of the Round Table Family
Our Founding Fathers, the first group of retiring Round Tablers got together in Liverpool as early as 1936 having been inauguranted in November 1928. Under the chairmanship of one R. H. Roberts, these Ex-Tablers met for lunch on the first Tuesday of every month with three winter evening meetings and opened their door to any Ex-Tabler, not just those who had previously been with Round Table Number 8. Next was "Wolverhampton Notables" who formed in 1937 by a few over forties. At this time they had no interest in forming an association having already made up their minds that
"no rule nor regulation that was ever conceived could dictate what companionship meant".
Following these on 13th April 1939 a London Old Tablers Society was formed, without having any idea that the Liverpool club even existed.
"The Association of Ex-Round Tables' Club" was formally formed in 1945. So providing a way for members of Round Table to continue friendship and fellowship after retiring from Round Table at the obligatory age of 40.