A single mother whose daughter needs specialist nursery care fears her chances of getting a job could be dashed if a playgroup closes, writes Emma Henry.

Nicola Randall's daughter, Chanee, three, suffers from atopic eczema and has to be watched constantly. She is not allowed out in the sun for long or to sit on grass and has to have cream put on if her skin becomes itchy. Staff at the Holy Family Church playgroup in Greater Leys, Oxford, where Chanee has been going for a year, are understanding. But the playgroup faces closure unless it can raise 1,300 in three weeks and Nicola fears no other playgroup will take her daughter.

This, she said, will put paid to her plans to find work next month. She has just finished a certificate in creche care and a computer course. Miss Randall, 29, of Elder Way, Greater Leys, who also has another daughter, Tyshea, eight, said: "My daughter enjoys attending the playgroup and her confidence has improved a great deal. It will break her heart if she doesn't go back.

"She goes five days a week for four hours for 10. I have been studying at college and used the hours she was at the playgroup to study, as do other parents. I have been hunting for a job, but I can't afford two places with a childminder. That would cost about 100 a week. Also she has to be watched the whole time, which is a lot for a childminder or any play group."

Miss Randall, who is on the playgroup's committee, said it needed 4,000 to stay open for the next year, and had raised 2,700 from government schemes for the over-threes. But if the remaining 1,300 is not raised within three weeks, the playgroup will not be able to re-open next month.