I read with interest your article about the growing popularity of table tennis (Youth In Action, September 12).

I was, however, taken aback to read that it started in the 1980s, and not in the 1930s, as I previously thought.

I have recently (and reluctantly) been forced to stop playing table tennis after about 70 years due to ill health.

During the 1940s, I played on a Morrison [indoor air raid] Shelter.

The games were a bit noisy and there were bolts sticking up around the edge of the “table”. These caused the ball to fly off at different angles and made for a very interesting game, to say the least.

I then graduated to a table made from hardwood and orange boxes, which we installed in the cellar below my dad’s shoe shop in Preston Village.

This proved very popular with family and friends, including the local Bobby, who would call in for a game during his late night rounds.

I would say table tennis was at its most popular during the 1950s and 60s, when youth clubs, factories and most workplaces had their own teams.

Roy Saunders, The Martlets , Sompting