Stoke Manager - Bob Mcgrory
Permission for the next series of the Stoke Managers caches has been kindly provided by Staffordshire Wildlife Trust. Each cache will continue the Stoke Mangers theme, while also letting you know about one of the inhabitants that may live in these woods. The trust is a great organization that does lots of great work up and down the county, all carried out by funding from the public. If you wish to put something back into the local environment, click on the following link and make a small donation http://www.staffs-wildlife.org.uk/donate
Frog Rana temporaria
Without doubt, the humble common frog is my favorite of all the animals likely to be found in these woods. It is from the early days of catching frogs and tadpoles in my grandad’s pond that my love for wildlife was first born. The adult frog is between 3-9cm long, short rounded snout, webbed feet and long hind legs adapted for swimming in water and hopping on land. This makes the frog an amphibian, surviving well in land and water. The frog, hibernates when the weather is cold, usually between October and February, although this will vary depending on the temperature, it lays its eggs in clumps called, frogspawn in the water, which quickly hatch out into small tadpoles. The tadpoles then quickly develop arms and legs, loose their tails and metamorphose into small frogs. In the spring time, the pool near the Little Quest cache can be seen teaming with frog, frogspawn and tadpoles.
Please post in your log if you see one of these animals during your caching adventure.
Bob McGrory
June 1935- May 1952
G460 Won 170 Drew 114 Lost 176
Spending 15 seasons at Stoke, making over 500 apperances for the club, never scoring a single goal (sounds like Wilko) McGrory had become an indispensable part of the team, especially under manager Tom Mather. McGrory was thrust into management when his predecessor left to join Newcastle United as manager. McGrory, was described as an abrasive manager and took bold steps to blood new talent into the team, which paid off, leading to the emergence of Stoke Legend Feddie Steele. During the 1930s Stoke were one of the most exiting teams in the country to watch, with there highest place finish of 4th, where we went into the final day of the season needing to beat Sheffield United to win the league. After loosing his battle with Stanley Matthews, who went to join Blackpool, McGrory could never re establish Stoke as title contenders, after 2 relegation battles, he left Stoke in May 1952, ending his 31 year stay at the club.