The Council

The Knights of St. Columba in Peterborough is a small, but active, organisation committed to serving the Catholic Church and Clergy in the community.

Peterborough, at one time used to be one of the largest Knight’s Councils in the United Kingdom with over sixty members serving a smaller local community. As Peterborough has expanded over the years, with the building of the new satellite townships, the numbers attending the inner churches have fallen due to parishioners moving from the inner city to the suburbs. The organisations within the church have seen a decline in membership as many of their duties to the church and clergy have been allocated to the newly formed Parish Church Councils. For example, if one went back twenty years, the Parish Priest would call upon the Knights to re-decorate the Church. Today, the Parish Council would have to get, possibly three tenders from qualified contractors to do the same job.

These are modern time with modern methods and technology and one has to adapt with change in order to keep in existence. The KSC in Peterborough went through a stage where they had not kept up with the modern trends and therefore lost momentum, and members. Only three years ago, the membership fell to only five. Today, after adapting to the local needs of the community, our membership has increased by nearly double to nine.

The structure of the Council is made up of Officers. They are :

The Chairman, called the Grand Knight

The Chaplain, (usually the Parish Priest)

The Deputy Chair, called the Deputy Grand Knight

The Secretary

The Finance and Administration Officer

The Training and Development Officer

The Spirituality and Welfare Officer

The Action and Youth Officer

The Social Secretary

The Warden

Officers are elected, re-elected or appointed on a yearly basis and can hold the same office indefinitely with the exception of the Grand Knight who may only hold office for a maximum of three continuous years, after which he must step down. He may be re-elected in future years. But there has to be a minimum of at least one year before he can resume the Chair again.

Usually in larger Councils, each Officer is the Chair of a committee made up from the membership of the Council and they discuss and plan activities and events relating to their Office. Committee findings are submitted to Council for proposal, agreement or adoption at the monthly Council meeting.

Council meeting are open to all members.

We are always looking for enthusiastic men, over the age of 16 years, to become members to this fraternal order.

If YOU are interested, or perhaps were once a Knight and wish to return, please contact the Secretary by email at kscpeterborough@btinternet.com or telephone 01733 327633