Our history
Round Table is a club of young men between the ages of 18 and 40 with the aim of promoting the friendly and social life in the respective place of residence and to help people in need through service activities.
Round table is not only local, but also exists nationally and internationally and in this form is spread around the world. Due to the Austria-wide and global existence of this organization, Round Table offers the individual members a national and international network of contacts, which can be helpful both for individual and professional personal development. Round Table differs from other service clubs mainly in the dynamism of the youth, as the age limit of 40 years ensures that the group always has a constant age distribution. Therefore all members are in a phase of the beginning family and social life as well as at the beginning of their career and are characterized by the idealism and commitment of the youth. The organization is neither party-political nor denominational.
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Round Table 3 Innsbruck was founded in 1958 and was the third table in Austria after RT1 Vienna and RT2 Linz. Hence the name Round Table 3. We currently have 17 members - also known as "tablers".
The beginnings
The Round Table started with a young Rotarian, Louis Marchesi from Norwich in Central England. 1926 and 1927 were bad times for everyone. The global recession, months of general strikes, crime and violence everywhere you looked, burgeoning fascism and nationalism. As always in such times, the youth suffered from this situation. Unemployment destroyed all hope of recovery.
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Photo (c) Des Fulcher
Disorientation in the personal as well as in the social area spread. This Louis Marchesi wanted to point out these great problems of youth in his presentation to his Rotarian friends:
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There are things we must do,
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there are things we can do,
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and there are things we should do.
But he felt that his Rotarian friends did not understand and take him seriously enough. How it happens to young people again and again. But he was also so strong-willed that the refused help did not prevent him from first forming a group of other confectioners and then also members from all social classes and other professions. This "round" was not satisfied with pointing out problems and supporting solutions or even just discussing them. She was ready to act unconventionally and confidently. The aim was to give young men between 18 and 40 years of age perspectives and hope. In 1927 the first round table was founded. Round table derived from the 13th century story of King Arthur and his round table. The Round Table symbol corresponds to that of Winchester Castle (King Arthur's Round Table).
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The motto of the Round Table comes from a speech given by the Prince of Wales at the opening of the 1929 World's Fair. He urged young men to integrate tried and tested traditions into their own thinking, to combine them with the present and to adapt them to the respective requirements and, where possible, to improve them in order to then implement this as much as possible in professional and private life and thus contribute to a higher quality of life.
Due to the youth of its members, Round Table is a living, constantly changing organism. Living means learning, adapting and developing. The motto of the Round Table:
ADOPT
Accept good ideas and ideals and learn to live them ...
ADAPT
... adapt these ideas and ideals to his environment ...
IMPROVE
... to continuously develop and improve these ideas and ideals.
The "Tabler of the first hour" not only took these important words as a motto, but also paved the way for the round table. The first implementation of ADOPT - ADAPT - IMPROVE!
The development
As a result, the club was so active in its social projects and educational work that this idea spread very quickly.
In 1935 there were already 100 clubs, and in 1936 the first club on mainland Europe was established in Denmark. During the Second World War, of course, the founding of clubs stagnated, just as this unpleasant time claimed many victims among tablers. But immediately after the end of the war, further construction took place under extremely difficult conditions.
Round Table came to South Africa in 1948, the first table was founded in Germany in 1952, and when Round Table was launched in Austria in 1955 , our country just had to deal with a huge flow of refugees from Hungary. And the tablers around Viktor Straberger did a great job during this time, also with the active cooperation of many foreign tablers.
In 1959 there were round tables in 21 countries. 26,000 members were organized in 1,000 clubs.
Today the Round Table is represented on all 5 continents. Over 40,000 members are active in around 60 countries.