Overview | Objectives | Welfare | News Update | Emera Q&A | Discussion

HISTORY & OUTLOOK

Sunny Bank was founded in 1892 by a group of British residents in and around Cannes and financed by personal donations. In 1897 they build a permanent cottage hospital for British residents in the region. This hospital continued to operate throughout both world wars in spite of the German occupation of Cannes from 1942 onwards, although it mainly sheltered those people too old and infirm to get away on the coal boats. Sadly, after years of good service to the Anglophone community, the hospital had to close in 1997 because it could no longer conform to French standards and nor remain financially solvent.

It quickly became clear that the best way forward was to sell the old hospital building, which was on too small an urban site for an economically viable venture of any sort. The goal was agreed by the members to replace it with a new Anglophone medicalised retirement home and a search was made for a suitable site in the area. Eventually one was found nearby at Mouans Sartoux, just outside Cannes. A purchase contract was signed in 2003 and the deal was completed in 2005.

Since then, planning permission for a 100 bed retirement home has been granted, a commercial partner EMERA has been found to build and operate it and regulatory approval from the local social services, political and medical authorities have all been received, together with assurance of the necessary financing. After contracts were signed in June 2007 for a 30 year lease on the land which will raise income for Sunny Bank, work began immediately and is due for completion by end-2009.

This will also include the renovation of an 18th C farmhouse on the site, The Grange, to be used by Sunny Bank as a charity centre in close support of the Anglophone residents of the future Home as well as other elderly compatriots in need in our region. This will require strong volunteer support to make full use of the facilities and raise funds through charitable events.

Our goal is to ensure that, in the tradition of Sunny Bank over more than a century, none of these people in need are excluded for lack of means from a secure retirement in an Anglophone friendly environment. So 'Sunny Bank Charity' has also been setup as a legally separate association able to receive tax-free legacies and gifts. With this volunteer and financial support, after a period of enforced inactivity, Sunny Bank can soon expect once again to be a significant contributor to the Anglophone community of our Region.

VISION - MISSION - STRATEGY - OBJECTIVES

Vision: Re-establish and develop Sunny Bank as the leading benevolent association in support of elderly and infirm Anglophone residents of the South East of France.

Mission: In partnership with a commercial operator, provide an Anglophone-friendly medicalised Retirement Home, with benevolent volunteer support for current and potential residents.

Strategy: With funds from the sale of the century-old Petit Juas hospital site in Cannes:

• Buy a suitable new site in Mouans Sartoux.
• Acquire the necessary official permits and approvals.
• Use an architect to design and ideal new Retirement Home with facilities for mentally and physically handicapped residents.
• Contract with an experienced commercial partner to build and operate the home.
• Use a refurbished old building on the site - The Grange - as a base for volunteer support and fund-raising events.
• Work closely with our Partner in defining and providing for the Anglophone specific needs of the Retirement Home Residents
• At the end of a 30 years lease, recover both the land and the buildings on the site.

Objectives: Sign the final version of the Contracts with Fortis-Lease and EMERA on 14/6/07. Occupy The Grange from Jan 2009. Build up an enlarged volunteer team by end-2009, ready for the anticipated opening of the new Home the following year.

Vision: Establish a tax-effective fund-raising body for collection of donations and wills to help finance those residents of the Retirement Home who are unable fully to pay their way.

Mission: Build up over time a sufficient capital sum to provide enough income to ensure that no needy person is turned away from the Retirement Home for lack of means.

Strategy: Once the contracts are signed and the construction and running of the new Retirement Home is assured, re-start Fund-Raising in France and the UK, with a view to collection of both donations and wills from Sunny Bank sponsors. Use the income from the resulting capital to support needy residents.

Objectives: Establish a benevolent fund of at least K€300 by the time the Home opens, and double that within 5 years.

WELFARE SUMMARY

Introduction
A key element in Sunny Bank's statutory charter is bringing comfort and practical support to the elderly dependent Anglophone population in our area.

Can we help you?
Are you - or do you know - an elderly person in need of help to address health, material, social security or other needs?

What can Sunny Bank do?
Depending on the circumstances, and in close cooperation with the local churches and British Association branches, Sunny Bank can:

• Arrange for a home visit to assess your specific needs and bring reassurance.
• Keep in touch with you by visits and phone.
• Welcome you from 2009 to the new Sunny Bank Centre at Mouans-Sartoux for Charity events, meeting friends, getting help and advice, buying English books and bric-à-brac, etc.
• Accompany you through the process of establishing formal residence in France, registering with the Social Security health service (CPAM, Carte Vitale, etc), finding an English-speaking doctor, having your pension paid directly to your French bank, etc.
• Help establish your rights for support under the French National and Local Social Security system (CCAS, APA, Handicap Allowances, Minimum Vieillesse…).
• Employ professional aid to resolve specific technical, legal or regulatory problems.
• Provide limited financial support to help address an unexpected crisis.
• Help find a Rest Home for temporary convalescent needs.

Contact us
Send an email to: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or leave a phone message on 04 93 47 94 20 for us to call you back on the next Tuesday or Thursday.

NEWS UPDATE - JANUARY 2008

The year 2007 was a momentous one for Sunny Bank. A decade after the closure of the 100 year old Anglo-American Hospital in Cannes, major progress was made towards its replacement by a new Medicalised Retirement Home in Mouans Sartoux. After years of preparation and negotiation, contracts were finally signed in mid-year with a commercial partner EMERA and their bank, for the financing, construction and operation of the new home on Sunny Bank’s land at Mouans-Sartoux, leased by Sunny Bank to Emera for 30 years. Right alongside the village, and just behind the Casino Supermarket, it is ideally situated for local facilities and public transport, including the train service between Cannes and Grasse.

During the second half of 2007, as ground clearing and site preparation progressed, tenders were prepared for the construction and equipment of the new building. This will include the rehabilitation of an existing farm building on the site, The Grange, for use as a base for Sunny Bank's charitable work and fund-raising events in the region, as well as close support for residents in the new home next door. This building may also be available to other benevolent groups in the area, such as the British Association, with whom Sunny Bank's welfare work should be closely coordinated.

Construction work on the new Home is expected to last about two years, allowing it to open as early as possible in 2010. Since the management of such an establishment under modern regulations and conditions is now far beyond the means of a small voluntary group, it will be managed by EMERA on a commercial basis, whilst Sunny Bank will participate in an advisory role on the Management Committee to look after the interests of the Anglophone residents. The basic charge per resident at 2007 prices is expected to be in the region of €100/day inclusive of board, lodging and standard facilities - in other words similar to other competitors providing a comparable service.

While this may seem a lot at first sight, it should be placed in the context of the finances of a person at that stage of life with a pension, but no longer needing to pay rent, own their own home or pay for their ongoing living expenses. For many retired people, this will mean that the combination of their pension plus an income from their invested capital will be sufficient to cover their residential charge.

For those with insufficient means, it is important to know that elderly European Union citizens officially resident in France enjoy full entitlement to the various Social Security benefits, such as the Minimum Vieillesse and the Allocation Personnalisée d’Autonomie. The new home will also include 20 'Social Security' beds, charged accordingly at a lower price, to which such European citizens are also eligible on exactly the same criteria as the local French population. In addition, most potential residents will be members of the French medical insurance (the Carte Vitale) which will cover any medical problems they may have.

Finally, our goal is to ensure that no one in need is rejected through lack of means, and so we plan over time to build up, through a legally separate association 'Sunny Bank Charity, a fund in support of those Anglophone residents who are otherwise unable to finance their stay.

EMERA QUESTIONS & ANSWERS - JAN 2008

1. Why did Sunny Bank opt for a new Medicalised Retirement Home? Could we not use our resources (money, land, volunteers) better in some other way?

The 19th C origins of Sunny Bank were a cottage hospital for anglophone expatriates on the Côte d’Azur. This evolved over time into a Medicalised Retirement Home, a concept that has proven itself in practice over a full century of changing times. On the sale of the old Petit Juas (Cannes) site, there was strong support from the membership to recreate such a Home in the area, keeping its anglophone specificity and if possible providing a Sunny Bank Community Centre close by as a base for caring support, logistics, charitable events and the like. Alternative approaches would tend not only to duplicate the good charitable work already performed by the British Association and others but also to deviate from the intent of the original contributors to Sunny Bank’s mission.

2. Why has Sunny Bank partnered with a commercial company to build and run our new Medicalised Retirement Home? Can we not do it by ourselves like before?

The old Sunny Bank Hospital in Cannes was run directly by the Association. But to build and run a new Home today would be way beyond our financial means and competence. In any case, current official regulations and standards mean this is no longer feasible and the old site was too small and unsuitable to build a technically and financially viable building. So Sunny Bank has bought an excellent site at Mouans-Sartoux and set up a partnership with EMERA to build and run the home on our behalf.

3. Why EMERA? Surely there must have been other alternatives?

Indeed, and several other potential partnerships were assessed. But the nature of this partnership between SB as a 1901 Association and a private capital management company is very special. EMERA was the only company, not only willing, but even enthusiastic to seize this opportunity. As such, they have accepted not only the risk, but also the financial burden of paying for a Permis de Construire in our name as well as the services of an architect chosen by us. The design will be of a particularly high quality as will be the environmental considerations. Furthermore, they also accept by contract the presence of Sunny Bank representation on their local management board and on the Retirement Home management committee, to ensure that SB’s interests are fully taken into account. Their expenses already incurred, the quality of the site and the potential of the project make it improbable that they should drop out at this stage.

4. Who are EMERA? What do they do?

EMERA is a commercial company, specialising in the building and running of Medicalised Retirement Homes. They are based legally near Angers (in the Loire Valley) but the family have lived for two generations near Grasse where they are well respected. The family enterprise has been established for over 20 years with 17 homes across France, of which 3 in our area. Their success in this field is a further guarantee for Sunny Bank of their capacity fully to meet our needs. The name of their President is Claude Cheton. Their web-site is www.emera.fr .

5. What's in it for EMERA?

EMERA expect to make a profit over the 30 year life of the project, which will be run on a normal commercial basis and at market prices. However the terms of the contract give Sunny Bank a strong say in the running of the new Home. This will particularly favour access and a bi-lingual environment for anglophone residents. These characteristics are protected by our agreement which not only commits EMERA but also any potential successor should they ever sell.

6. What’s in it for Sunny Bank?

Sunny Bank is a charitable Association. Its prime objective, as stated in our Statutes, is to buy, own and make available, by lease or otherwise, the land and/or buildings needed for a Medicalised Retirement Home in our area. Anglophone residents should be able to communicate in their own language, remain close to their local family and friends, and be treated by their own doctor. The rental income from the lease will help Sunny Bank to finance its charitable activity in the area, especially towards the elderly and the sick using the Home or in their own homes, and in need of moral, material, regulatory or financial support. Both the buildings and the land will revert to Sunny Bank's sole ownership at the end of the 30 year lease.

7. How else can Sunny Bank benefit?

The site at Mouans Sartoux also includes an old farm house - The Grange - which is due to be renovated by EMERA to serve as a Sunny Bank Charity Centre for residents of the home, for visitors to them, for meetings & events, money-raising sales etc. Financed by rental income from the land, it will be a base from which carers can provide 'tender loving care' both within the Home and in the region. This building, of which Sunny Bank will have exclusive use, also contains three studio-flats which could help provide affordable lodging for anglophone nurses or others providing support at the Retirement Home alongside.

8. Won't the Home be too expensive for most people?

The pricing at around €100/day will be typical of other such Medicalised Homes in France and the UK. Without EMERA's experience and economies of scale, Sunny Bank would not have been able to price it cheaper by themselves - or provide such good facilities. Many retired people currently living locally in their own home on a pension would potentially have the resources to finance their stay. For those on restricted means, as well as medical support from the French Social Security and Mutuelles, there are several other sources of financing, such as the Minimum Vieillesse, the APA (Aide Personnalisée d’Autonomie) and various regional or communal schemes generally coordinated by the local CCAS branch in each town or village. And over time, as Sunny Bank benefits from donations or wills, it hopes also be able to contribute for the needy.

9. How big will the Home be? And when will it be ready?

The Retirement Home itself will have 94 full-time and 5 day beds (4 times as big as the old Sunny Bank). We are expecting Planning Permission for a further 20 beds in a 'Senior Flats' annexe, whose residents would have access to the main services, eg. restaurant and of course the Charity Centre in The Grange. The new 'Sunny Bank' Retirement Home is due to open by 2010 and be fully operational that year. So we are now in the final 'straight' of a project with immense potential and need the full support of all Sunny Bank volunteers, members and well-wishers to make this vision become a reality.

SUNNY BANK  Contact Details:

225 Bretelle de l'Echangeur Est
Les Capucines
06210 Mandelieu

Tel: 0493479420
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Website: www.sunny-bank.org
 

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