“I frankly don’t like it when they call us a club. That sounds as if we’re mainly there for people who lunch.” So says Valerie Haxton, Chairman of the British Association in the Alpes-Maritimes which groups branches in Menton, Nice, Cannes and the Var, and this year – to be exact on November 30th – celebrates its fiftieth anniversary. So what name would she prefer? “Quite simple – we’re a charitable association and that’s where the emphasis should always be. When the B.A. was set up back in 1957 its primary purpose was to offer help whenever needed to British citizens here, residents and even visitors.”

What does this mean in practice? Explains James Buchanan-Jardine, Chairman of the Cannes branch: “When we become aware of someone in need we step in to do what’s necessary. Over several years, for example, we helped a chap who died not long ago in his early nineties. He’d somehow never got into the French welfare system and we gave him an allowance and help with medical bills and such like. But it’s not only the elderly, you know, who come to us. Like any welfare system, we have to cater for all ages – people who lose their jobs, get major health problems, are abandoned by their partners which is what happens to some women here.”

Paddy Holmes, Chairman of the Menton branch, confirms that those who need help are by no means all elderly in their later years. “Of course, there are those who through lack of foresight or just bad luck end up in a crisis in their retirement years but we sometimes find much younger people in dire circumstances. We’ve just sorted out a man who was absolutely desperate to find some cheapish accommodation and didn’t know his way round the property market.” Over in the Var Selwyn Glick, who recently stepped down as branch secretary, recalls a single mother with two handicapped children who wanted a computer so she could consult websites dealing with the medical conditions involved. “We gave her a computer and she feels more confident now in her difficult situation.”

As that example indicates, help doesn’t necessarily mean financial assistance. Says Valerie, “There are all sorts of practical things we do to help – with shopping, the bank, the tax office, the hospital, the consulate, to take a few examples. Sometimes what elderly people in particular are looking for is a bit of congenial company – or even just a drive in the country.” Valerie makes two further points: first, people who’ve been legally resident here sometimes for years don’t always realise what they’re entitled to from French social services and then some don’t know about other sources of help they can draw on. For instance, we’ve been giving a lot of assistance to an ex-RAF fighter pilot in Nice, a game old chap in his eighties, whom we introduced to the Royal Air Force benevolent fund who’ve granted him an allowance. Second, I’d like to say we don’t see ourselves as rescuing people from poverty and squalor and that’s it. Occasionally you get cases where life has got that grim but our concern is with quality of life – so a new microwave, a vaccum cleaner, upgraded heating can make a big difference. We bought a motor-scooter for our pilot and now he’s on patrol in the streets of Nice.”We spoke to Gerry, a man in his late thirties who had managed, with wife and kids, to live and work here for several years without paying tax or social charges – okay, that’s very dumb but tempting to some. One day his employer, also an expat, folded his tent and rode away. Gerry’s world collapsed. The British Association in Cannes kept him afloat with a living allowance and rent until he got another job and sorted out his status. “I can never be grateful enough,” he says. “They saved us from going down the hole.” Good to hear – so what can the average Brit do to help? Answers Valerie: “Join the Association – subscriptions, €12 for an individual, €18 for a couple – are a useful source of funds; take part in our social functions which make a small profit that goes to our welfare fund; volunteer some time to help people in practical ways; and – if you can – remember us in your will.” Selwyn Glick adds to this: “Don’t forget the old line about there but for the grace of God – one day you too might need our help.”

From Riviera Reporter Issue 121, June/July 2007

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