Hopes to commemorate celebrated novelist Virginia Woolf’s connections to Richmond with a statue are still a long way off coming to fruition.

It’s because the charity behind the project is still trying to raise enough money for the project,

Considered a pioneer in modernist literature, Woolf spent an often-overlooked 10 years in the town between 1914 and 1924.

Aurora Metro, a charity that runs The Virginia Prize for Fiction which was  named in Woolf’s honour, hopes to place a full-sized statue of the writer at Richmond riverside.

But so far the team is yet to even raise £10,000 of the £50,000 it needs to complete the project.

Aurora’s Cheryl Robson said: “It’s shocking to think that she hasn’t been honoured with a full sized statue in the UK.

“And Richmond is the perfect place for it. She was an emerging writer when she was in there. It was the start of her career.”

Woolf had spent some time nearby in Twickenham in institutions trying to deal with her poor mental health – she had suffered breakdowns after the deaths of her parents, and struggled with what is now considered to have been bipolar disorder for the rest of her life.

But, Ms Robson said, she enjoyed Richmond very much.

She said: “Over the next few years she recovered, and she really found her voice as a writer. She began to experiment with form, and she became the writer she was going to be.”

While in Richmond, Virginia and her husband Leonard set up the Hogarth Press, through which she published a lot of her work.

Ms Robson said: “The Hogarth Press really helped. By being able to publish her own work, she was able to feel more relaxed. She wasn’t worrying about the reaction of publishers.

“The two things together – the fact that she was exploring writing and, that she had the Hogarth Press behind her – are why she should be celebrated in Richmond.”

Woolf was recently named an icon of the 20th century by the BBC – the only writer to make the final shortlist – another reason Ms Robson said she should be commemorated.

Sculptor Laury Dizengremel has been commissioned to create teh statue of Woolf, in her 20s, sitting on a bench.

The writer’s great niece, Henrietta Garnett, has said the work has a “remarkable resemblance” to the real person.

The link to donate is here: mydonate.bt.com/charities/aurorametro.