Fur flies over likeness of statue's cat design

Campaigners working to install a statue of a Dorset novelist with a cat at her feet say they have been upset by "unpleasant" comments about the animal's appearance.

Visible Women crowdfunded for a life-size bronze of Sylvia Townsend Warner to sit in Dorchester's South Street, with the cat based on a locally famous feline, Susie.

But messages about the animal's lack of resemblance to Susie have prompted the charity to "move away" from the connection, saying it is now a "generic cat".

Anyone who donated to the crowdfunding campaign on the basis of the Susie likeness is being offered a refund.

A Facebook page dedicated to Susie has more than 10,000 followers

The £60,000 project aims to erect Dorchester's first non-royal statue of a woman.

The cat detail was intended to be a nod to Townsend Warner's pets.

On a Facebook page dedicated to Susie that has more than 10,000 followers, criticism included the "sludge green" of the casting wax and the absence of a tracking collar on the animal, even though the technology had not been invented during Townsend Warner's lifetime.

The charity said sculptor Denise Dutton, who also created the Mary Anning statue in Lyme Regis, had found the whole saga "hilarious".

Sylvia Townsend Warner lived in Dorset with her partner, poet Valentine Ackland

In a statement posted on Facebook, Visible Women said: "While we initially hoped Susie could inspire the cat in the Sylvia Townsend Warner statue, the sculpture was always created from photographs, making a precise likeness impossible.

"Recent comments have caused upset and, as a charity, we feel it's best to separate all ties. The cat is now simply a generic cat."

Sylvia Townsend Warner was a contemporary of Virginia Woolf and lived in Dorset with her long-term partner, Valentine Ackland, in the early 20th Century.

In the planning application for the statue, Dorchester Civic Society said: "Despite her remarkable contributions, her name is rarely mentioned and remains absent from Dorset's literary landscape."