Knights History

The Calgary chapter of the Knights of the Round Table was organized in the 1925 by a representative of the larger Knights international organization and a handful of prominent Calgarians, including Alex Calhoun, A. B. McKay, Dr. G. D. Stanley, Eric Richardson and George Clarke. The organization derived its ideals from the Arthurian Knights, and was quite different from the usual service club. It abstained from any community undertaking on the basis that individual members already participated in community and civic activities, so the focus was on adding a valuable dimension to the lives of Knights … food for the mind from the knowledge, wit and wisdom of the speakers, followed by informed discussion and debate.  The original organization was very formal and structured, with ceremonies for installation of members and officers. Only men were permitted to join.

Over the decades Calgary Knights has held weekly meetings over lunch to discuss topics of the day. Originally the majority of addresses were given by members, but by the 1970s nearly all speakers were invited guests.  After considerable debate, women were finally accepted into the august ranks in 1975.

The most recent existential challenge to Knights was presented by Covid, when in-person meetings were not possible. Knights quickly adapted, and for some time in-person meetings were replaced by Zoom sessions.  Initial anxiety and tentativeness soon dissipated and Knights continued to successfully  “meet” in a virtual mode, which contributed to the survival of the organization.   

Knights today

Compared to its origins, Knights is a much more informal organization today, but has maintained the essence of its original mandate to provide a forum for open exchange of ideas where views can be expressed fearlessly in a spirit of broad toleration.

The range of topics covered in recent years has been extremely broad: health, arts, science, engineering, business, politics, indigenous affairs have all been addressed.  We are most grateful for the willingness of speakers from both within the Calgary community and elsewhere, to share their knowledge, and our members are encouraged to participate as speakers as they wish. While we have returned to in-person meetings, we recognize some advantages that Zoom delivered, namely the ability to access remote speakers and allow members who are unable to attend in-person meetings to participate.  So we plan to retain at least one Zoom meeting per month.

We also retain the practice, initiated during Covid, of issuing a brief monthly Newsletter to keep members informed on upcoming speakers and membership affairs.

Details of past topics and speakers are provided on this website. Recently, particularly for Zoom meetings, we have recorded sessions on video and these can be accessed.

Knights Centennial 2025

In 2025 we celebrated the centennial of our founding in 1925.  Here are certificates of recognition from the Honourable Salma Lakhani, Lieutenant Governor of the Province of Alberta and Jyoti Gondek, former Mayor of Calgary (and a former speaker at Knights).

Knights Board

President: Andrew Hart

Vice President: Tang Lee

Past-President: Rob Dawson

Treasurer: Maureen McLeod

Program Director: Patrick Windle

Technology Director: Andrew Hart

Newsletter Editor : Joanne Steinmann

Board Member at large: John Anderson

Board Member at large : Richard Hehr

Board Member at large : Stutt Pottruff

Our Board members, who are all volunteers from Knight’s membership, welcome any feedback, questions, comments or suggestions. Contact them by emailing Board@kortcalgary.ca .

Board responsibilities can be found here 

Knights Membership

Members of Knights represent a wide spectrum of society, with backgrounds in business, engineering, law, teaching, academia, the arts and health, but the only real qualification for entry is an enquiring mind.

If you are interested in joining or wish additional information, please drop us an email at Board@kortcalgary.ca and a Board member will contact you.  The only information you provide to us in joining is name, address, phone number and email.  A small annual membership fee of $60 covers administrative costs. Additionally, members pay the cost of their lunch (currently $40) when in-person meetings are held. 

Knights Meetings

Meetings are normally held on the first and third Tuesday of each month.

On the first Tuesday the meeting is in-person and is currently held at either the Kerby Centre or the Inn on Officers' Garden, Currie Barracks, both of which have free parking. Doors open at 11:30am, and lunch is served at Noon. The Speaker starts at 12:30pm and the presentation lasts approximately 1/2 hour, followed by a ½ hour Q and A session and general discussion.

On the third Tuesday of the month the meeting is held by Zoom.  Meeting is opened at 11:30 am and the first ½ hour is available for socializing for members in attendance, and the Speaker starts presentation at Noon.  At approximately 12:30pm the ½ hour Q and A session commences.

Knights is always open to changing frequency and location of in-person meetings as needed to meet the wishes of its membership.

Knights upcoming speakers

Upcoming speakers include

May 19     Zoom       Howard Heffler : An Alberta Big Birding Year

June 02    Inn at Currie Barracks : Michael Robison : "Palestine Belongs to the Semites (assisted by Judaism, Christianity, and Islam)"

June 16   Zoom        TBA

July 14    Kerby Jim Guthrie : "Beaufort Sea Exploration"

Sept 1   Kerby Darren Curran : "Engineering and Construction Industry in Canada. How mega projects get built."

Oct. 6   Kerby Open debate and discussion :  "Potential name change for our society"

Knights Previous Speakers

As illustrated from the information below, over the decades Knights has had a huge number of illustrious external speakers, as well as many from within our organization addressing topics of import of the day.  Before Covid we had no facility for recording our presentations, but we have maintained a list of (almost) every one -the later ones with a brief description of the speaker and content -organized by year

• 2004 - 2009,

• 2010 - 2014,

• 2015 - 2019,

• 2020 (the start of our Zoom recordings),

• 2021,

• 2022

• 2023

• 2024

• 2025

• 2026 

Knights Newsletter

Knights publish a Newsletter every month to keep members apprised of upcoming meetings/speakers and other items of interest.

Here is the current newsletter