Mike Bayly’s nearing completion of a coffee table book called 100 Football Grounds To See Before You Die. The North-East bucket list embraces Newcastle United, Richmond Town – modest ground, glorious riverside setting – Tow Law Town and Esh Winning.

Esh’s magnificently situated ground at Waterhouses, in the Deerness Valley, was his final visit – like school dinners, the best saved till last. “It didn’t disappoint,” he says. The illustration’s from the cover of a Northern League magazine in 2005.

The book’s taking longer than anticipated. Lest it confound its title by being published posthumously, he’s packed up work in order to complete it.

Back in 2010, Mike – a Londoner – also wrote Changing Ends, sub-titled “A season in non-league football”, in which the only North-East match featured was at South Shields, when finally he found the ground.

Locals had proved unhelpful. “We would have had more joy asking David Cameron if he could point us to the nearest Netto,” he wrote.

Hitherto his only North-East forays had been on a student night out in the Bigg Market and on what might most kindly be termed work experience in Peterlee.

“It wasn’t the people, who were actually very accommodating, but the wrist slashing, post-pit town landscape.” He left after less than a day.

Jim Casson, who lives in Peterlee and no doubt loves it, has been adding to a chorus of football chant letters in The Times.

The best, he supposes, was sung to the tune of the Dean Martin song That’s Amore and was about former England striker Bobby Zamora.

When you’re sat in Row Z

And the ball hits your head

That’s Zamora….

Back among the authors, Colin Hart has written the history of the Bury Cup, contested with white-hot intensity by inter-departmental teams at Skinningrove Ironworks in east Cleveland.

“There were up to 30 different sides – engineers, electricians, Millwrights, mechanics all sorts,” says Colin. “The rivalry was huge, brothers could be kicking one another up in the air.”

Started in 1912-13 by Ernest Bury, a manager at Skinningrove, the competition’s final could attract 2,000 spectators, entertained by the local brass band and paying a shilling apiece.

After 3,000 were made redundant when a blast furnace closed in 1972, it became a six-a-side competition. Now it’s played between a Skinningrove team and the local Caterpillar plant.

Colin’s a former player and athletics club secretary. The book, vividly illustrated, from col.h9260@gmail.com

More reading matter: Newcastle United’s programme for the FA Cup tie with Luton Town had a page on one of the club’s less well remembered goalies – former FA Cup final referee and Co Durham polliss Peter Willis, now 80.

Not even near-omniscient club historian Paul Joannou knew that Peter had been a Magpie until his card was marked by an improbable source. The column’s role was duly acknowledged.

Peter made just one reserve team appearance, against Everton in 1954-55, plus several for junior sides. “There were too many rivals for him to progress, including Ronnie Simpson and Stewart Mitchell,” wrote Paul.

Long in Meadowfield, P N Willis continues to keep very canny.

Derrick Beckwith, for 25 years chairman of Northallerton Licensed Victuallers Association and an exemplary and ever-affable landlord, has died. He was 88, his funeral held on Tuesday.

Born in Dewsbury, long in the Northallerton area – his wife, he said, was always Marjorie in the West Riding but Madge in the North – he’d also been a footballer with Wolves and Huddersfield Town, until Town’s young Scottish manager deemed him surplus to requirements.

It gave him a nice line for customers. “I’m the only man in Northallerton to have been sacked by Bill Shankly.”

Stevie Carter, assiduous secretary of Ryton and Crawcrook Albion in the Ebac Northern League second division, will be absent from his post on Saturday. He’ll be at East Fife, for the Scottish FA Cup fourth round tie with Brora Rangers.

Stevie hails from Brora, a remote Sutherland village of just 1,140 souls which once was home to the UK’s most northerly pit.

The club plays in the Highland League, recently walloped Fort William 16-0 and saw off Stranraer in the third round. “Saturday’s winnable,” says Stevie.

The Railroad to Wembley proving diversionary for all sorts of reasons, we headed instead last Saturday to Penrith v West Auckland.

Nice place, Penrith, and further favoured of late with a Penrith and Eden Valley edition of Monopoly.

It’s on sale behind the clubhouse bar, £25, though Guardian reading Blues secretary Ian White insists that he won’t be buying a copy. “Monopoly,” says Ian, “is much too capitalist for me.”

….and finally, the only Ripon-born footballer to represent England (Backtrack, January 11) was Derek Kevan, known as The Tank. “He had the same manoeuvrability,” says Cliff Wells, unkindly.

The only Ripon Grammar School boy to win an Olympic gold medal was the diver Jack Laugher – surname apparently pronounced “Law” – in 2016.

The Newcastle United programme mentioned above also had a paragraph on Malcolm Macdonald, 68 earlier this month – 138 goals in 257 Newcastle matches (“plus one void”) between 1971-76. Readers are today invited to explain the void.

We again try to fill the space next week.