A PROJECT to create a ‘living archive’ of the Cowley area of Oxford is about to come to a close.

Since the I, Cowley project was launched with a £47,240 Heritage Lottery Fund grant in May 2010, hundreds of people have been involved.

Memories, oral histories and photographs have been contributed to the project, run by Fusion Arts, the Ark-T Centre and Oxfordshire History Society.

Tomorrow a tea party will be held at Fusion Arts in Princes Street, to exhibit some of the things unearthed during the course of the scheme.

Project manager Tara Stewart said: “What we have been doing is exploring the heritage of the area of Cowley and getting people involved and participating and contributing to the new archive.

“We used a whole range of initiatives to get people’s stories, so we know more about the area and the people who live there.”

A photographic exhibition by Giles Davies features a series of portraits of local residents pictured with objects of personal significance.

Oral histories were collected and recorded by Chris Bradbury, while artist Neil C Smith created projections using images collected through the project, which will be on show on Saturday.

Su Frizzell, known as Groovy Su, created a large canvas treasure map of Cowley, and encouraged people to add their memories to different places within the area.

In all 150 people directly contributed to the project, while hundreds more dropped in to two shops set up in Templars Square to tell stories and talk to each other.

An interactive dvd has been created, which will be distributed to those involved and passed on to locations such as Temple Cowley Library so others can find out more about the project.

A website, icowley.info has also been set up which residents can add to.

Mrs Stewart said: “It’s been really fascinating talking to people and hearing their personal stories and putting that into the bigger picture of what we know.”

The tea party runs from 4pm to 5.30pm and is open to all.