A tribute by Ian Chappell.
We are sorry to have to inform you of the death of Eric Chadderton, who passed away on 3rd March, aged 89 years. Eric (and his wife Betty, who died 2 years ago) was a father, grandfather and great grandfather and above all a devoted servant to cricket at all levels.
Eric and his wife, Betty, both became Honorary Life Members of Yorkshire Cricket Association and also of the Yorkshire Cricket Board in 2011 after a deep involvement with cricket at all levels for over 50 years.
Eric was a founder member of Amaranth Cricket Club in 1958 and played for them for almost 40 years, being Secretary since 1959 and captain in 23 of its first 25 years and Betty was the scorer. He joined the Executive of the Leeds Second League in 1967 and then its successor the Barkston Ash and Yorkshire Central League as Secretary 1973-79 and later was its President.
When Amaranth changed leagues in 1985, Eric became secretary of the Wetherby & District League, a position he held until a very bad accident in 2010.
On the county front, Eric succeeded Jack Norris as secretary of the then Yorkshire Cricket Federation in 1974 and continued until it merged into the Yorkshire Cricket Association in 1979. He served as secretary of the Leeds Area Cricket Council (1974-80) and was its Chairman (1991-2011), with Betty the minutes secretary for all these times. He served on the Council of the Yorkshire Cricket Association since its inception in 1971 and was on its Finance and General Purposes Sub-Committee and ended as its last Chairman (2005-11) after being Vice Chairman for 10 years. He also served on the Board of the Yorkshire Cricket Board from its creation in 1996 and its Centre of Cricket Excellence Sub-Committee and also the Ethnic Minorities Working Party in the early 1990s.
Meanwhile, Eric had also qualified as an NCA coach back in 1976 and was active at club level for over 30 years. He also became a full member of the Association of Cricket Umpires and Scorers in 1983 and umpired since then to his accident.
However, his (and Betty’s) prime and main involvement at county level was with the Junior and Youth Sub-committee and they were always involved in the County Under 19s since 1979. Together, Betty and Eric never missed a tour or festival, especially to Cambridge. Eric served a long period as Chairman of that Sub-Committee and throughout Betty was the Sub-Committee secretary, until 2011.
His and Betty’s unique partnership in Yorkshire Cricket was recognised in 2007, when they were both jointly the first winners of the YCB Special Award at the 2007 YCB OSCAs Ceremony. He also won the Leeds Service to Sport Award in 1986.
Eric had an horrific car accident in 2010 and worked on a lesser scale for a year. Betty had a severe arthritic condition so they both retired in 2011.
Eric and Betty were the very essence of Yorkshire Cricket, in a unique partnership that makes Yorkshire Cricket so successful and rewarding. No one served Yorkshire Cricket and club and league cricket to a greater and better extent than Eric did.
Eric’s funeral is on Thursday 26th March 2020 at 3.00pm at Wakefield Crematorium (WF4 3JD) and our deepest sympathy from all at Yorkshire Cricket goes to the Chadderton family.