Sir – Since taking over the reins from Eric Bowtell, your local correspondent on the game of bridge, Nick Smith, has regularly shown himself to be an entertaining successor, especially when touching on matches at county level. However, his recent piece (Weekend, October 1) gives a distorted picture of the modernisation at club level being introduced after wide consultation by the English Bridge Union.

The game of bridge has outgrown its old image as something for toffs, a fit topic for a manor house murder mystery written by Agatha Christie. Why is your correspondent still defending the existence of an elitist, closed club?

Come on, Nick! Rather than clinging to the past, give us some accounts of the more characteristic bridge events that are played today, in towns and villages around Oxfordshire, in local clubs that welcome applications from players of all levels and that happily offer basic classes to newcomers.

David Bygott, Oxford