AN EXHIBITION telling the stories of 66 men from one Oxford suburb who gave their lives in the First World War has been so successful it is to go on tour.

The ‘66 Men of Grandpont’ project was such a hit at St Matthew’s Church in Marlborough Road that it will now be shown around Oxfordshire.

It will move to the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum in Woodstock for the whole of August, then return to St Matthew’s Church for Oxford Open Doors on September 11 and run until September 13.

It will then go on tour at various other venues over the next 12 months, including, organisers hope, Oxford Town Hall, Westgate Library, South Oxford Community Centre, Oxfordshire History Centre in Cowley and several Oxford colleges.

Oxford historian Liz Woolley, who began the project from her Marlborough Road kitchen last year, said she and other organisers were delighted with the response.

She said: “The feedback we’ve received from local residents, visitors, and relatives of the 66 men has been overwhelmingly positive and we’ve been really delighted by how people have responded.”

She thanked everyone who had supported the project including the Oxford Mail.

Organiser Emma Hill, an amateur historian from Whitehouse Road, said: “Having it on your own doorsteps brings it closer to home.

“You can look out your window and imagine people receiving telegrams to say their loved ones had been killed or hurt.”

The project’s website now includes detailed biographies of 66 Grandpont men and is still being updated regularly as new material provided by relatives comes in.

In the last two weeks alone the website has had more than 1,000 hits.

Ms Woolley said she has also nearly finished a documentary on the project, with interviews with relatives of the 66 men, Grandpont residents and historians.

Film-maker Simon Haynes is currently in northern France shooting footage of the battlefields where individual Grandpont men died and the cemeteries and memorials where they are commemorated.

Perhaps the most resonating part of the project for people who live in Grandpont was that Ms Woolley and her team went around the area and put a poppy on the gate of all 66 houses that lost a father, son or brother.

She said they had been asked to set up that trail again for Oxford Open Doors in September and said she would give a public talk on the project as well.

In the meantime they are creating a remembrance book, to go on display in St Matthew’s Church, in hope of being dedicated on Remembrance Sunday.

Project’s website: southoxford.org/local-history-in-south-oxford.