The International Club of the Riviera is proud to be sponsored by
Meet Our Members
Peter & Debbie Wenn
The Serious Wenns
The Fun Wenns
Peter - he has been working in Monaco for the past 4yrs for Single Buoy Moorings (SBM), as an engineer, really likes his job and travels quite alot. He is a keen golfer (when he gets the opportunity), enjoys good food, good company and meeting people/socialising. He is very outgoing and fun to be around.
Debbie - myself and my son moved here just over 2yrs ago (Thomas was nearly 15yrs so a very difficult age and with no French he has done marvellous at school and is studying for the Bac ES and hopes to go to a UK university) I gave up my job with Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs where I was a Compliance Manager dealing with company investigations/fraud. My other role was the Diversity, Training & People's Co-ordinator, a role which I particularly enjoyed. I am currently on 3yrs "special leave" but will resign my post this year. I enjoy meeting different people, travelling, gardening, food/cooking, reading and socialising (I am not a sporty person like my husband!)
Arielle Oster
I'm Arielle. I was born in Sweden 59 years ago (always accept what you can't do something about!) I am a teacher and have two years off for the moment, living in Biot. I've got 5 children, one lives in Berlin, one in Oslo, two in Gothenburg and one is travelling around the world! My interests are music, Litterature, treaking, riding, canyoning, other cultures, people and people's way of thinking and eatern religion.
Melanie Schommer
This is me.
Hummm .... how to introduce myself? I have it: with a smile!! Open minded, dynamic, creative and always with a sunny and sincere smile
This is me. Growing up in an international environment was a real treasure for me, a mix of cultures that shaped the woman I am today, full of energy, just welcoming new friends, share experiences and go forward in a positive perspective. Happy to be a member of the International Club, together with my 11 years old daughter and pleased to meet you - All of you.
This is what I do My job, my passion: architecture. Issued from the prestigious University of Florence, in Tuscany, my heart belongs deeply to the Italian culture. Living (again) in France since 2002, I was able to create my own interior architecture agency in 2006, working mostly for international clients.
Anna Fill
Following 17 years of running my own business in corporate entertainment, which included presenting, voice work and PR/ event management for clients based in the UK and English and American Military organisations, I am now running the only on-line magazine for English speaking women on the Riviera, www.therivierawoman.com which I started in 2007.
The magazine is a heady mix of news, information and feature articles and interviews. Anyone can register.
Together with my partner, I also develop interactive websites.
I have been living on the Riviera since 2002. I have an unusual fusion of nationalities as my background is Italian and Ukrainian. Time spent in Italy and the cultural influence I received from my mother was one of the major factors to settling in this wonderful region. It is a true cosmopolitan victory.
I enjoy being with and meeting new people. I am a good listener and I find it rewarding to be in the company of others who can feel comfortable in sharing their stories and experiences with me and together we can feel relaxed and happy.
Kim Defforge
As a Francophile since adolescence, my lifelong dream has been to move to France. Having an extensive background that includes working in the U.S. for the Lorraine region of France, and also teaching middle and high school French, I never lost sight of my passion for all things French. Many life events, and the resulting paths along the way, finally led me to Nice in 2007 (instead of to Montpellier).
Holding a degree in French, and a Master’s in Education, I initially taught English in Beausoleil, while planning and creating my own business, Finesse Concierge Services. Living and working on the French Riviera has personally proven to me that dreams really do come true!
Nigel and Helen Brotherton
Husband and wife team, Nigel and Helen Brotherton decided in 2008 that in a country dominated by Wine and Food, the international community here on the Riviera sometimes needs a little help to unravel the mysteries of a drink which is perhaps more 2nd nature to the indigenous natives! So FineWineWorks was created.
Helen holds the WSET (Wine and Spirit Education Trust) Diploma with Honours and is able to teach qualification courses up to WSET Advanced Level 3. She is also an Associate Member of the Institute of Wines & Spirits.
Helen has until recently worked with VSF (Vins Sans Frontieres) as a Wine Consultant based on the Riviera, specialising in Fine Wines for the Yachting market.
Before that she has had a varied and exciting career in the UK, initially as a professional actress for 11 years (yes, she does occasionally appear in long forgotten sitcoms on UK Gold in the early hours), and as a Chef in London whilst “resting” (between acting jobs!). Time to get a grown – up job and realising she liked drinking, Helen embarked on a career in the UK wine trade working with two of the most influential Wine Companies in the UK retail sector.
Helen then bought and ran her own restaurant in North Yorkshire
before selling up when she met then married the lovely Nigel, and
joined his family business.
Nigel, after a long career with WH Smiths retired as Logistics
Director, to sort of consult a bit and play golf a lot, got bored
and set up, with his family, two businesses in Pickering, North
Yorkshire: "Seasons", a Delicatessen &;Wine Merchants and also a
fresh Yorkshire Food Distribution company, "Moorsfresh";. Nigel is
the business brains and the one with the patience here at FWW.
Elizabeth Morgan
I suppose I have been in love with all things French since I was about fourteen. Maybe it was through ‘Mademoiselle’ who arrived like a waft of Parisian perfume at my Grammar school and who liaised me with her niece in Paris as a pen friend? It certainly wasn’t with the strings of verbs we had to learn. No! If I’m honest it was a certain Claude Laubier who had arrived on an exchange visit with a bevy of hunky classmates from his Parisian Lycee, was alarmingly handsome and who at sixteen sounded like Charles Boyer.
Unfortunately my parents that year could not afford to send me on the school’s return exchange visit. He was exchanging with a girl who was the hockey team’s goalkeeper with build to match. Naturally I seethed, but never mind a delicious month was spent when even the meanest street in my HOME- town became a stunning boulevard. The following year I stayed with ‘Mademoiselle’s’ niece in Paris. From then on everything French had a whiff of romance, and as for French chansons, an accordion, the smell of the Metro, Haussmann boulevards, I was hooked, body and soul!
Being a natural rebel I feel very at HOMEwith the tempestuous history of France, and love its Literature, appreciating more now the books and poetry we read in school. As a galloise and a Celt, I find a warm kinship with the people and accept the occasional Madame Defarge in shop and office. I love the laissez-faire attitude and equally the gossip sessions over a coffee in the kitchen. It has been this total empathy that encouraged me to write my two books on France ‘Can we afford the Bidet?’ (Q.Anne Press ’93) and ‘Life Style French Style’ (How to Books - 2007)
Another passionate link between Wales, from whence I hale, and France is the game that stands god-like above all others, Rugby, introduced into France by a Welshman no less and if anyone knows where I can get tickets for a France v Wales match or for that matter Wales v Anybody, anywhere, please let me know!
My own background has been theatre and television, as actress and presenter, and voice over artist (Captain Scarlet Angels) plus several years with the BBC Drama Repertory Company. Whilst at the BBC I started writing plays and in all have written about 35 so far for radio television and theatre. In the eighties and nineties I toured the USA and the UK with my two one - woman shows but these days writing and living in France takes most of my time. I return to the UK for family and the sporadic acting roles, voice-overs or regular guest lecturing at Brighton University.
It started in the seventies with a bolthole in France that through several subsequent moves grew and became my main home.
Moving to the Riviera six years ago was one of the best decisions I have ever made. Joining the International Club and meeting such a variety of people, was another
Nikki Thomas-Orler
An Australian Francophile from school age, I have lived in the hexagon all my adult life, mostly here on the Riviera as a result of choices and a bit of chance. Like many of us, I never tire of the cobalt skies and brilliant sun, with the volcanic outcrops overlooking the azure sea to Corsica. While I am very aware of my antipodean roots and upbringing, the family and professional aspects of my life have made me feel at HOME too in France; I personally get a lot of enjoyment from this bilingual and bicultural situation which I find stimulating and a never-ending source of learning.
Initially a linguist, I trained as a clinical psychologist and after having worked in a medical environment (particularly in palliative care) and a centre for adolescents, I now do most of my work in private practice (French and English), offering counselling and psychotherapy for all ages. I also belong to Cancer Support France, a voluntary group set up four years ago for English speaking patients living in France. www.cancersupportfrance.info
As a committee member of the new International Club of the Riviera, I am happy to count myself among fellow expats from varied horizons and backgrounds, with a desire to link up and share personal and/or professional areas of interest. Whether through need, pleasure or force of circumstance, those who have made the Riviera their temporary or permanent place of residence represent a myriad of nationalities and cultures and consequently, a wonderful potential of exchange and enrichment. With the Riviera as our common denominator, we have so much to discover through moving outwards from what is familiar (and reassuring !) to exploring the possibilities of the new and unknown.
Looking forward to meeting you !