The final touches are being made to the statue of Virginia Woolf planned for Richmond riverside, however the team involved need one final push to raise the funds needed to make it happen.

Sculptor, Laury Dizengremel, has waxed the striking bronze artwork of the author sitting on a bench and the hope is that it will finally be set in place this summer.

The project has been spearheaded by Richmond resident Cheryl Robson - a publisher, author and film-maker who launched the Virginia Prize for Literature in 2009 via her Aurora Metro Arts & Media charity.

The project involved the need to raise £50,000 and the team is still a little short of the money needed to see Virginia find a place on the riverside path next to Richmond Bridge.

The arrival of the statue has had to overcome some objections from the Richmond Society, which campaigns to protect the area's history and heritage.

Its chairman, Barry May, said while the author was rightly celebrated, her death by drowning in the River Ouse, Sussex, meant putting a statue on the Richmond riverside was 'insensitive and reckless'. However, these concerns were set aside by Richmond Council, which has given planning permission.

Virginia Woolf lived in Richmond with her husband Leonard for 10 years and founded the Hogarth Press here.

It was an incredibly productive period of her life when she began experimenting with writing novels. Celebrating her influence on modernist literature, this statue will act as a lasting and interactive memorial to her genius.

Cheryl Robson said it is important for the country to properly celebrate women who have been overlooked in the past.

"Women are completely under-represented in public sculptures in Britain. You had to be a queen or a naked muse to merit being depicted. We see our Virginia artwork as an attempt to begin redressing this imbalance," she said.

Donations to the project are welcome via https://donate.giveasyoulive.com/charity/aurorametro