FOOTBALLER Derek Lewin’s passing (Echo, March 18), brings almost to an end, the unbelievable magical golden age of football, during the 1950s.

The men that graced the local playing fields then, would undoubtedly be making a fortune today. I was fortunate to have lived through the most wonderful period of amateur sport ever.

The annual trip to a packed out Wembley, the crush to enter the local grounds, sports report, the football Pinks. Every boy at school lived and breathed the excitement, it was almost the only topic of conversation.

Thanks Derek lad, you were a scholar and a gentleman of the old school.

Keith Belton, chairman, Durham Amateur Trust