Perth Round Table 1949 - 2009
This year we celebrate 60 years of Tabling in Perth, a journey that started exactly 60 years to the day on May 29th 1949 when Perth 200 was chartered.
It's hard to imagine today what that first perth Table might have been like, especially in those days of post-war austerity. Doubtless many of its members would hve seen active service in the Second World War and were working to help rebuild Britain's - and Perth's - economy. That they also decided to help their community is a testament to the Tabling spirit that we aspire to carry on today.
Tabling in Perth was clearly very successful and before 1964 there were 26 members which rose to an astonishing 41 by 1972. Due to these numbers a new and separate Table Perth Strathearn 1138 was chartered in May 1975 and this followed a year of operating as a shadow table during 1974. I'm reliably informed that starting membership for Strathearn was around 30 so in 1975 ther were some 70 Tablers in Perth. Numbers I sadly suspect that are very unlikely ever to be reapeated.
The two tables continued successfully but over time they followed the national trend of diminishing membership in Round Table with each of the two tables becoming smaller over time. In April 2001 to ensure a viable Tabling future they merged to become one again and Perth Strathearn 200 moved foward with 14 members. Today I am pleased to say that those hard choices have resulted in a table with an active and enthusiastic menbership of 15. So numbers are good and stable, perhaps though more importantly for the future the age profile is good with the maority of our menbers in their 30's rather than 40's.
In speaking to people and looking through archives it became clear to me that Tabling in Perth has changed and evolved over the years. This is to be expected and I'm pretty certain some of this has been driven by the individuals in Table, wishing to make their mark and some would be a reflection of Perth society at that point in history. However, despite this there are themes that cut through time and are equaly relevant and important today as they were to Tablers over the 60 years of history
Fund raising and community service has and continues to be a key corner stone of Tabling in Perth. A flick through the archives shows an amazing breadth and in places novel approaches to fund raising and community service. Lumber jacking was one such event that stood out for me and I had a vision of 20 or 30 Tablers all wearing check shirts carrying axes strolling through Perthshire forests.
The fireworks have been running for almost 30 years in one form or other. Interestingly we found an early poster advert from 1978 in the library which had the quote "parents, like the local services will welcome the safety factor and the diminution of fire danger the dispaly brings". All very true, however, the advert did not mention that in those days tablers actually bought and set off the display, but to do this they stored 100's of boxes of fireworks in their domestic garages. So I think the moral being if you lived next to a Tablers there was probably a significantly higher risk of fire danger and less safety. I'm pretty certain my neigbours are glad that the world of health and safety prevents such an approach today.
The list of people who have benefited from Table during the last 60 years would take hours to read out and you all know what you did in your time in Table so I don't propose to cover this in detail, other to confirm this work continues today and in the last 12 months Table has donated jost over £10,000 to some 19 different organisations covering a broad spectrum of community groups, charities and schools. Table would like to thank all of Perth for the support over the years and look forward to helping other organisations well into the future with you continuing support.