Tablica nr 2
Przy Centrum Aktywności Wiejskiej
Kocury and Malichów Village Development Association called “Brzozowa Dolina.” (“The Birchen Valley”)
The Kocury parish (the smallest administrative unit in Poland) consists of two villages: Kocury and Malichów, it is located in the Opole Voivodship, district Oleski, Dobrodzień commune.
At the founding meeting in 2004, the villagers of the Kocury parish joined the program of the renewal of the village with the motto “The Renewal is People.” At the same time, they established the Kocury and Malichów Village Development Association called “Brzozowa Dolina,” (“The Birchen Valley”), (a public benefit organisation), which was joined by 34 members.
The beginnings of the Association were hard because there was no boardroom for the villagers; however, the Association’s activity was speeding up. There were meetings held, such as Woman’s Day, Carol Evening, May-day Picnic and many more, but the villagers still hadn’t got any place to meet.
It was connected with, for example, the kids’ rehearsals, the rehearsals of the band “Familijo z Brzozowej Doliny” (“Dear Family from the Birchen Valley”), the workshops, and the gatherings.
There was also Voluntary Fire Brigade established, which also needed a room.
On 16 th May 2008 at the village gathering, it was decided to build a boardroom, so-called Village Activity Centre with the fire station for the Voluntary Fire Brigade.
On 21 st September 2009, the building committee was created, and in May 2014, the Centre was put into service.
Meantime, we as the Association joined The Local Operation Group called “Kraina
Dinozaurów” (“Dinosaur Land”). We also dared to apply for various donations. Without the
boardroom, we tried to carry out projects, which didn’t need any building.
In such a way we organised projects:
- “May-day Picnic 2010”
- “May-day Picnic 2011”
- “The 400 th Anniversary of the Kocury Village with its history and tradition”
- “Take care of local history”
- “The history hidden in photographs”
- “The promotion of the program of the renewal of the village- stimulate your
imagination. - A pony-trekking from the Poviat Starosty in Oleśno- 2016, donation 2500 zlotys. The
first pony-trekking in Malichów. “Polish Championship for Seniors, Polish
Championship for Juniors and Young Riders, the International, Polish Nationwide
Competition and Social Competition in sports pony-trekking,” the project realised
with the Equestrian Team “Dolina Gawora” (“The Gawor’s Valley”). - “The Path of 20 th Anniversary of the renewal of the Kocury Village”
- A pony-trekking from the Poviat Starosty in Oleśno
- The second prize for the best project of the renewal of the village.
- “In the Footsteps of a Dinosaur”- a natural playground and an open-air gym, 2019.
- Educational paths- “Malichów and Kocury Natural Forest Paradise”
- “The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence”
- Two donations from the Village Window to support the finance village education.
- we collected materials for four books about local history
- we organised some festivals (Welcome Holidays, Communal Harvest Festival in 2012 in Kocury, Communal Harvest Festival in 2016 in Malichów, “The 400 th Anniversary of the Kocury Village”)
- we did some historical reconstructions
- we organised old professions’ workshops
- we bought multimedia equipment
- we created the Path of 20 th Anniversary of the renewal of the Village
- we created a modern playground with a dinosaur Velocipes
- we are creating an educational path- “Malichów and Kocury Natural Forest Paradise”
- within the historical-integrational workshops, we are working on multimedia-historicguidebooks for eight parishes
- many other activities
The Local Operation Group called “Kraina Dinozaurów” (“Dinosaur Land”)
LOG „Kraina Dinozaurów” is our friendly association, which consists of associations, business entities and private persons from seven communes: Kolonowski, Ozimka, Chrząstowice, Dobrodzień, Turawa, Zawadzkie and Zębowice. The association was founded in 2005 and was established in 2008.
The LOG’s priority is to use the touristic and recreational values of the areas, in particular the palaeontological global discovery, to create opportunities for development of rural areas, to activate the local rural community, and to stimulate social and economic initiatives.
The seat of the association is in Ozimek.
We live in the Dobrodzień Commune in an extremely charming, historically rich, multicultural area where many famous personalities originated. It is worth exposing these values to potential tourists, and our residents do not always know the riches and curiosities of our surroundings.
Malichów- Kocury Voluntary Fire Brigade
Malichów- Kocury Voluntary Fire Brigade was established in 2010. The statutory activity of the Brigade is social. The Brigade works to protect and save lives, health and social properties, as well as the environment. It takes part in actions related to fires, natural disasters, environmental threats and other local threats.
On 2nd May 2011, the new combat vehicle was officially handed over, which was blessed by parish priest Henryk Malorny during the field Mass. The Eucharist was attended, among others, by firefighters from nearby towns, residents, and the mayor.
It became a tradition that the members of the brigade actively participate in important church ceremonies.
The Voluntary Fire Brigade also organizes various events.
On 3rd May 2014, the Rural Activity Center and the Malichów-Kocury Voluntary Fire Brigade Watchtower were opened. The investment is owed to obtaining EU funds from the Rural Development project for 2007-2013.
Beekeepers and Pigeon-breeders
In Kocury and Malichów, beekeepers and pigeon-breeders also develop their passions. They are true nature lovers with a lot of theoretical and practical knowledge related to their passion. Currently, Mr Aleksander Steinhoff owns the largest bee-yard in Malichów.
“Dolina Gawora” (“The Gawor’s Valley”)- farming of purebred Arabian Horses Kuhalain type
“Dolina Gawora” in Malichów organizes the Polish Championship and International Competition in sports pony-trekking.
“First there were dreams, the dreams of an adolescent boy who admired the photos of beautiful horses in the magazines, read about their achievements and successes, but most of all he was interested in their bravery. After more than a quarter of a century, his dreams about these beautiful creatures began to come true … „(more information on the website „Dolina Gawora”)
Rosary Roses
The Association of the Living Rosary, the so-called Rosary Roses, have existed since 1826 and are the best-known rosary prayer congregation. The founder of the Association is Frenchwoman Paulina Jaricot. According to her, the Association aims to support the church missionary efforts with prayer, spiritual and material sacrifice and to pray for peace and the conversion of the sinners. In the past, the goodwill of 15 people who wanted to say one decade of the rosary per day was enough to create the Rosary Rose. Each Rose has its chairman.
There are three Rosary Roses in Kocury and Malichów, which include women and men.
The Association of Catholic Families
The Association of Catholic Families of the Opole Diocese has been operating since 1995 in connection with the Catholic Church in Poland, within the associations’ Act. The aim of the Association is to influence marriage and family life following the Catholic Church teaching and to conduct educational and charitable activities.
In the decanate of Dobrodzień, the Association of Catholic Famielies’ guardians were priest Krzysztof Gbur and then priest Józef Mucha. At the meetings, the families considered various church texts on marriage and family issues. Among others the „Letter to Families” of Pope John Paul II was discussed. It was issued in 1994 on the occasion of the International Year of the Family, which was announced by the United Nations. Another thing discussed were the Words of Life, the excerpts from the Gospel of one of the Sundays of the month, with a short commentary by Chiara Lubich, the founder of the Focolare Movement.
The Association of Catholic Families of the Dobrodzień deanery is also committed to the advancement of the Work of Spiritual Adoption of the Conceived Child, whose life is at risk.
Families also participate in ecumenical services in the parish of St. Mary Magdalene in Dobrodzień, which are followed by ecumenical meetings with representatives of the Evangelical and Pentecostal churches, in the parish hall. Twice there was a gospel music concert twice, that was prepared and conducted by the pastor’s daughter from the Pentecostal church in Opole.
The families from the Association also participated in retreatal and recreational trips to Biskupów, near Nysa, to the retreat house at the Benedictine monastery. There were some leisure meetings for whole families organized, as well as a non-alcoholic New Year’s Eve party at the Primary School in Szemrowice.
For many years, the members of the Association from the parish of Szemrowica, were bringing the light of Bethlehem from the Opole Cathedral to the parish church.
The apostolate of prayers for priests called “Margaretka” (“Marguerite”)
In the parish of Szemrowica, the apostolate of prayers for priests called “Margaretka” has been working for ten years.
The beginnings of the apostolate are related to the life of Margaret O’Donnell, who was a young Canadian woman paralyzed at the age of 13 as a result of Heine-Medina’s disease. The illness that affected her was an impulse for her to start praying, especially for priests, parish priests and parishes. Soon she began to meet people coming to ask her for prayers. Priests constituted a large group of them. Margaret devoted herself to prayer until the end of her life. She died at the age of 40.
After her death, prof. Lousie Wald, who knew her personally, in 1981 initiated a larger-scale prayer movement for priests named after Margaret. A flower popularly known as marguerite has become the symbol of the initiative.
Parishioners from Kocury and Malichów are currently participating in prayers for several priests.
[1] „Krośnica i Borycz. Kościół i parafia” P. Smykała, Opole 2012 s. 174-175