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Despite the constraints of World War 2, Round Table continued to expand, particularly in Denmark, while activity in the British Isles was limited. Post-war, Round Table experienced a resurgence, with new chapters chartered across the UK and beyond.
Round Table Denmark was the first Round Table organization to be set up beyond the shores of Great Britain and Ireland. This was an important step in testing the appeal of the idea and adapting the movement to different cultures while setting the stage for even more expansion. Tabling in Denmark has existed there since it was first introduced, making the story of how it was founded a key part of the foundation of Round Table as an international movement.
For decades, Ladies Circle was considered to play second fiddle to Round Table. Many clubs consisted of wives of Tablers, with their agendas mostly following the agenda set by men.
As Ladies Circle matured, the organisation not only aspired for autonomy, but to be considered on equal footing with Round Table. From 1999 onwards, multiple approaches were taken to create an understanding with no concrete conclusions. This was due to inconsistent board agendas, limited budgets to meet up, and difficulty in communication.
This item became a central focus for LCI President (2004/2005) Elena Charalambides, who insisted that the two organisations work in collaboration, and not one in front of the other. Discussions were started between Elena and RTI President Tom Albrigsten on how to formalise this understanding, with Tom expressing “…we can learn a lot from the ladies”. This was the origin of Side by Side.
This belief carried on the following year, with the next step being the formalising of the agreement with a Memorandum of Understanding. This MoU between Round Table International and Ladies Circle International was signed on 15th April 2006 in Livingstone, Zambia. The signatories were Simon Cusens (RT Malta) and Sylvia Mwansa (LC Zambia). One copy of the certificate is located at Dar il-Mejda.
Side note: During the same event, the RTI President was able to collect his chains of office, which had been left unattended next to a swimming pool at the previous ARTSA. As part of the penalty resulted in copies of the RTI Directory for the Round Table Africa Region were sponsored, including their postage requirements.
RTI doubled down on this commitment by adding the following item to the Aims and Objectives (at the time known as Aims and Objects):
To initiate, develop and improve working relationships with Club 41 International, Ladies Circle International for fellowship, networking and Joint Service objectives.
This made it the obligation of the RTI President of every subsequent Board to make it part of his agenda to reach out and reinforce this relationship. Later on, RTI would add Tangent Club International and Agora Club International to this item.
The name “Side by Side”The term “Side by Side” came out of a discussion between representatives of the two organisations in Nicosia, Cyprus. A logo inspired by a Yin-Yang design was chosen.
As part of the new understanding, a Side by Side pin was created. All the proceeds generated by RTI from the sale of these pins, was donated to and LCI service project. This project was led by LC Denmark, and involved an orphanage in Nepal.
Written by Christopher Mintoff
With input from Simon Cusens, Patrick Morganti, Moffat Nyirenda, Tom Albrigtsen, Rikus Badenhorst,
The first version of this article was published on 15th April 2025; the 19th Anniversary of the signing of the MOU.
Other Histories
Topics: WOCO, films, several associations,
Period: 1960s, 1970s, 1980s
The tools we have in today’s digital era, make it difficult to imagine a reality where instant messages were not the norm. In the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s (possibly longer but we don’t have clarification), the World Council of Service Clubs (WOCO) hosted a World Council Film Library, which containted promotional materials and documentaries about projects carried out my members of WOCO, including Round Table clubs. These films were recorded on 8mm or 16mm film, in black and white or in colour. Associations could formally request to loan these films, which were then delivered all over the world. Once the loan period lapsed, the films were to be sent forward, or returned to the library.
The library seems to have been operated from the WOCO Secretariat, located in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada. While the films themselves seem to have been lost to time, the correspondance that has been unearthed thanks to the RT Digital Archiving Initiative allows us to get a glimpse of the activities carried out in that era, as well as an insight into how correspondance was carried out back then.
Letters were found, where parties dicuss the availbilities of the movies, as well as the logistics involved in postage for such heavy materials. It seems that the library held and loaned out a single original copy of these films, resulting in quite a bit of correspondance where requests are made for films that have not yet been returned.
Associations were required to fill in a form called “Application for Loan of a Film”, which included conditions of use, and was to be personally signed by the President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer or International Relations Officer. Some of these videos were accompanied with a script outlining the duration of scenes, their content and any words spoken.
A faxed letter included a list of available films from the library:
THE FILMS AVAILABLE: 1. A Village is Born – The Hong Kong RT film on their village scheme. 16mm/colour/magnetic sound/20 minutes approximately. 2. Heritage – The film from ARTEA describing the East African states and the wildlife and illustrating some of the inter-Club Service Programme Schemes being run by Tables in ARTEA. 16mm/colour/optical sound/25 minutes approximately. 3. The Founder – An interview with the Founder of the Kinsmen Clubs of Canada. 16mm/black and white/optical sound/30 minutes approximately. 4. Dental Health Week – The winning entry of the 1969 Film Competition. This film, by Apex Australia, is on the 1968 National Project of the Association of Apex Clubs. 16 mm/black and white/optical sound/10 minutes. 5. A Long Way to Go – On the subject of autism and the steps being taken towards a cure. This was a project of the Apex Clubs and is widely known because it involved a sponsored walk around Australia in which Apex Clubs participated. 16mm/black and white/optical sound/26 minutes approximately. 6. Mission Medic Air – The film of the Luanshya Round Table 24 of ARTCA project. 16mm/colour/optical sound/25 minutes. 7. Polioemitis in Uganda – The film of the renowned Kampala Polio Clinic. 16mm/colour/optical sound/12 minutes approximately. 8. Adopt, Adjust and Improve – The World Council 1970 Film Competition winner from Madras RTI of India. Gives an insight into Round Tabling in India and some of the challenges faced. 16mm/black and white/15 minutes approx. 9. A Matter of Relationship – Produced in 1973 by Kin to show what Kin stands for. It attempts to educate the new member into the spirit of Kinsmen. 16mm/colour/optical sound/12 minutes. 10. A Service Club in Action in Papua New Guinea – By the Apex Club of Lae, this 1972 Film Competition winner shows service club action in a developing country. 8mm/colour/optical sound/12 minutes. 11. Bruges Conference, 1973 – Official film of the Conference made by RT Belgium. 16 mm/colour/optical sound/15 minutes. 12. Hong Kong Conference, 1975 – This film appears to have found its way into the library by accident and there are no details available. If any Association borrows it, the Secretariat would appreciate comments and technical details. 13. Quo Vadis Hatman – The winning entry in the 1973 Film Competition made by Briantree Round Table (RTBI). Super 8mm/colour/12 1/2 minutes. 14. El Syd – The winning entry in the 1977 Film Competition made by a member of the Kinsmen Club of Calgary as part of Syd Minuk’s election campaign in his successful bid to become the Club President in 1974/75. See how the Kinsmen do it!! 16mm/black and white/silent/10 minutes approx. 15. The Burtt Special – The best amateur film in the 1977 Film Competition made by Poynton RT No. 1064 (RTBI). 8mm/colour/magnetic sound/160 ft. 16. They’re off – The 1978 Film Competition winner (again from Poynton RT). 8mm/colour/magnetic sound/170 ft. 17. Camels to Cadillacs – An entry by Dubai RT in the 1978 Competition. 8mm/colour technical difficulties with sound track/400 ft. 18. Mystery Films! – The General Secretariat has had films returned from all over the world.
Written by Christopher Mintoff
Sources: RT Digital Archiving Initiative
The Louis Marchesi Clinic was an intivative to create a health care service in Lebanon. The promotional material published by Round Table Lebanon described it as the following:
— Louis Marchesi Clinic is an independent, non profitable medical relief program with a deep concern for Community service. Louis Marchesi’s philosophy is that those who are capable of helping others should actively assist those who lack the basic elements of health, food and education.
— Location: In a popular area of the city of Beirut — Lebanon.
— Aims: A community service program; being a free dispensary for poor people who cannot afford private clinic expenses.
— Land cost and Architect fees are offered free by R.T. Lebanon for the construction of a medical center before 1978 the 50th Anniversary of Round Table.
— Twelve Doctors, six of them Tablers, will ensure 8 hours a day service, six days a week.
— Nurses and other team members receive small salaries.
— Doctors offer services FREE OF CHARGES.
As part of the Brotherhood Programm campaign, the association requested a number of items, including Examinations Tables, X Ray Units, Centrifuges, Refrigerators, EKG Machines, Instruments and various equipment. Moreover, they requested cash donations, which would have had the following impacts:
$12,500 provides financial support for the total project, medical and administrative expenses.
$3,000 provides administrative expenses for one year.
$200 provides financial support for medical treatment for one month.
$100 provides basic medical care for an entire village for 15 days.
$50 provides daily medical treatment for tuberculosis for one person for three months.
$25 provides two months of medicine and food necessary to overcome malnutrition in a child.
$10 provides half unit of blood for a child with leukemia.
$5 provides five days of treatment for severe fungus disease in a child.
$1 provides necessary food for a family for one day.
No information on this intiative could be found online, so the current status is unknown. From the RT Digital Archiving Initiative, we found correspondance between WOCO, Kinsmen, and RT Lebanon. In 1974, it was decided that these organisations would support the initiative, with substantial donations. In 1975, Lebabon experienced a sequence of violence and massacres, which led to invasions and civil wars. Correspondace we have from 1975–1979 show concern for the Lebanese Round Tablers, and for the substantial donations.
In a letter dated January 4, 1979, Roger Saygh wrote that:
For your information, in July 1978, the local facility for the clinic was bombed; and as we are still in a critical situation, we are unable to meet among members to take any decision about the clinic.
As for the money, we can assure you that it is still in The Royal Bank of Canada
On March 29, 1979, Pete Hanly on behalf of Kinsmen Clubs wrote
…I have now been instructed to formally ask you to return the funds to us to be held in trust here in Canada here in Canada for you. The funds will only be held until such time as they are required by your organization, whereupon we would make the full amount of the funds plus interest accrued available to you.
The only thing that we would ask at that time is some positive assurance that the clinic was in fact going to be built and properly staffed. In the event that the clinic is unable to be built or in the unlikely event that your organization disbands, we would then have to return to our members, who donated the funds, to see where they should be placed. Every consideration would be given at that time to proposals from your area of the world.
Looking forward to hearing from you concerning the above.
Sincerely yours in World Council,
No further updates have yet been traced. The Civil war was formally over ten years later in 1990.
Written by Christopher Mintoff
Sources: RT Digital Archiving Initiative
