A charity support group forced to close because of the recession is to be relaunched.

Nichola Bond is setting up the new service to help people with fibromylagia, a condition which causes muscle and abdominal pain, sleeplessness and depression.

She says the regular meetings of the Worthing branch of Sussex and Surrey Fibromyalgia Support Group were vital.

After the sessions were forced to stop in the autumn because of a shortage of volunteers and funding, she felt a lifeline had been lost.

Ms Bond says the group helped her deal with the trauma of seeing the death of three friends in a car accident.

The stress of the incident made her condition flare up badly but the support of fellow fibromyalgia sufferers helped her cope.

Ms Bond was landlady of the Coach and Horses Pub on the A27 at Durrington, Worthing, when she saw the three friends killed as they drove out of the pub car park in December 2005.

Ms Bond, 44, from Durrington, said it was vital to get the group up and running again as soon as possible to help fibromyalgia sufferers in Worthing and the surrounding area.

More volunteers are needed to help run the group and support from local businesses would also be welcomed.

Meetings will be held on the third Tuesday of each month at Ferring Baptist Church, Greystoke Road, Ferring, near Worthing, starting on January 19.