A Tribute to Aiden Eaton

Nickname: Mothy

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AIDEN EATON 'MOTHY', A Tribute By Crispin Williams

I am here to say a few words on behalf of Aiden’s friends and colleagues at Addiscombe Cricket Club.

Aiden applied to join the Addiscombe Colts’ section as a teenager in the early 1970s. At that time there were a lot of youngsters wanting to play cricket and my father, the Colts Manager, was not able to accept them all. Aiden showed little natural ability and should really have been one of those to be declined.

However, dad was impressed by his keenness and dedication and invited him to stay.

He was right. It was this keenness and dedication that saw Aiden change from being a “no hoper” into a solid, if not spectacular, club cricketer.

When Aiden first joined the club, it his true to say that his appearance could not be described as exactly natty. Unkempt and slightly dishevelled would actually be nearer the mark. Now at that time, there was a great culture of nicknames in the club. In fact, I once counted 50 members with nicknames. One day, the most obvious nickname for Aiden struck me – Moth. As in Moth Eaton. Slightly cruel but then all the best nicknames are at first. It caught on immediately and from that day onwards I have hardly ever heard the name Aiden used at the club. It was always Moth, Mothy, The Moth or, in sillier moments, even Merth. Aiden loved it. It was a sign that he had made it socially and was one of the lads. So, Moth or Mothy it will be from me from now on.

I think it is really remarkable that this same Moth Eaton went on to become a menswear department manager and smarten himself up so much that, over the last few years, most members have been totally unaware of the original appropriateness of his nickname.

It was not easy for someone with a naturally serious disposition as Mothy to find himself among a group of people whose sole object in life seemed to be to take the Micky out of each other and he got as much, or possibly even more, ribbing than most. However, Mothy nearly always took it in good heart and was well respected for this.

I say nearly always, for there were the odd occasions when he would show indignation at a remark and, the more he protested, the more he would be teased. Not that it ever got seriously out of hand, though.

One such example was when, playing for the Adders (Saturday 4th XI) one day, he was clean bowled by a 13 year-old girl who was playing for the opposition. Well, any cricketer can imagine how much flak he took for this. The more we teased, the redder he became, stammering “She was very good” which only brought more hoots of derision.

Another time when Mothy provided huge laughter was when we had a hypnotist at a club function and Moth was hypnotised into believing he was a Japanese Nuclear Scientist. I wasn’t there, unfortunately, but I am told it was one of the funniest incidents ever seen at Sandilands. And naturally, taken in good heart by the victim.

At the end of the day, in a social atmosphere like this, a person’s popularity is best gauged by the amount of teasing they get. Yep, poor old Mothy definitely was popular!

As for the cricket itself, I think solid is a good word to describe Moth’s batting. With a slightly square-on stance and very little backlift, he was very difficult to get out and gradually his range of shots increased so that, by his mid twenties, he was contributing regularly to his sides’ scores, often forming the backbone of an innings.

I actually discovered a simple way of improving Mothy’s batting. Before going out to bat one day– I think it was at Lloyd’s Register – I took his glasses off and cleaned them for him. Poor lad’s sight was so bad he couldn’t see that they were so mucky it must have been like trying to look through frosted glass. The result was spectacular. Mothy scored a hatful of runs that day and this, perhaps, goes some way to explaining the improvement in his cricket.

At this time, Moth also made himself into a useful bowler, frankly to the surprise of his colleagues who had seen him bowl in the nets. A slow skipping run-up and an ungainly looping delivery proved to be very effective in deceiving batsmen and he was particularly useful in restricting the scoring rate. He took a fair share of wickets, too.

Most of this cricket took place at the modest level of Saturday 4th and Sunday 3rd eleven. In his later years with the club, he progressed to higher teams, although this was, perhaps, largely to do with the declining strength of our teams but did, nevertheless, indicate a steady improvement in Moth’s game.

When I was captain of the Strollers (Sunday 3rd XI), Moth was a reliable and loyal vice-captain and took over the job in 1984. Following 6 or 7 years of this, he went on to lead the Sunday 2nd XI for 5 years.

Like myself, taking a leaf from my father’s book, Moth was a great traditionalist as a captain and believed in doing things the right way. Hence his teams were always well-organised and smart in their appearance and his dealings with the opposition were always courteous, friendly and helpful.

During the 80’s, we had lots of club cricket tours. Mothy was a keen tourist and particularly enjoyed the chance of playing with players from higher teams, although he could get a bit indignant if they did not treat him as seriously as they might. His best riposte, though, was by impressing them with his performances on the field.

Overall, Mothy was the archetypal Good Club Man. Not only was he a captain for so long, he was Fixture Secretary from 1996 to 2000, Entertainments Manager one year and was heavily involved in producing the Hectic, the weekly club magazine, and helping to organise various cricket weeks and the annual Club Day. Hardly surprising, therefore, that he was made a Vice-President at the AGM in 2000 but, nevertheless, quite an honour at a relatively young age.

Many people do well in life but I personally have the highest respect for those who overcome natural disadvantages and modest circumstances to really make something of themselves. I take my hat off to you, Mothy, and I think the highest accolade that I can give is to say that everyone at Addiscombe Cricket Club will remember you with the greatest affection and greatest respect.