THE owner of a Taunton vintage shop says a spate of bad health could leave her store in disarray.

Nancy Moon, of Alpha Frog Vintage and Retro, hopes that with the help of the public, she can raise enough funds to keep her store going.

Miss Moon says she needs £2,000 to enable her to trade into the winter and to replace her main dress rail which is sagging under the summer stock.

She said: “£2,000 would allow me to buy in a great range of vintage shop basics, giving me my bread and butter items and to keep the rent paid and also to put a little cash into replacing my main dress rail which is now sagging under the strain making it difficult to browse.

“I’d also like to get some fresh flyers and gift vouchers printed ready for the busy Christmas period.”

The store opened in February last year, but Miss Moon’s sometimes poor health means the shop is important to her as she would struggle to cope at any other job.

She said: “I have fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome and sciatica, meaning I rarely know how I’m going to feel and how much I will be able to do on any given day.

“This was part of the reason for opening the shop as it reduced the pressure of having to list so much a day online and cut out the almost daily trips to the post office.

“With my health problems I would find it impossible to stay in traditional employment as one busy day can leave mey off my feet for the rest of the week.

“Having Alpha Frog means that as long as I can limp in and open the doors I can sit and do little more than serving customers from my stool behind the counter in order to rest and be able to put in another good day’s work of cleaning, tidying, laundering, mending, updating the website and so on when I’m ready.”

Miss Moon says she wants to keep going so she can continue to be a good role model for her 11-year-old daughter Frankie who earns her pocket money by helping out mum.

She added: “Closing now would leave me relying on long-term sickness benefits sat at home wishing I was working.

“That’s not the mum I want my daughter to look up to. I want to show her anything is possible if you can just keep going.”

Miss Moon opened the store with her ex partner after her business was taking over the house but after the relationship broke down she was left with only a fraction of their previous family income. The mum and daughter will soon be moving to a council flat as the house they previously lived in was two big for two people and unmanageable due to her health.

To help Miss Moon keep Taunton vintage visit www.crowdfunder.co.uk/keep-taunton-vintage.