FRA Committee Members

I’m Tana, President of FRA - French Riviera Animals Association.

When my children were growing up, our house was full of small furry creatures, but it was one cat, Spike, a huge ugly ginger tom cat, that changed the path of my life. We adopted him from a local UK shelter and I started volunteering there, fundraising and catching feral cats for a spay and neuter scheme.

Now I have time, and my work and my passion is FRA I live with 5 wonderful rescue dogs and assorted feral, but tame, cats.

We can’t save them all. But for the ones we do save, we change their lives forever.

Tana with Otto, Ana, JB, Teddy and Ceci.

I’m Britta, FRA Secretary and committee member.

I’m originally from Germany, but I have lived abroad for a big part of my life.

I have always loved animals, especially dogs, and when I was very young, I ‘bribed’ my parents into getting me a dog of my own.

I now have 5 dogs, 4 of whom are rescues from France.

I am very thankful to FRA for helping me to live my dream of being involved in animal rescue and I am very happy and proud to be part of such a great association and our dedicated team.

Britta with Paul

I'm Bridget, FRA Treasurer and committee member.

My love of animals started as a youngster born on a farm in a small hamlet in East Yorkshire, and despite being an arable farm, we had Jack Russells as working dogs and over the years I adopted rabbits, cats, tortoises, hedgehogs, birds that fell out of nests and I dreamt of being vet’s assistant in the local practice. But then life took a different turn and I ended up in the South of France working on yachts for much longer than I had ever intended -Yachting life can be addictive and hard to escape- so I promised myself that when I finally went ashore, I would adopt a dog and call him ‘Anchor’.

Along came Perdy – a jack/fox mix rescue from The Reunion Islands who I adopted at 1 year old and she became my life, coming everywhere with me.

For any of you that remember me as Office Manager at the PYA, she was always there snoozing in her cupboard. I had nearly 16 years with Perdy losing her just before her 17th birthday. You can never replace a loved furry friend but there is always room for another.

I started volunteering dog walking for the Jean Duflos refuge in Antibes - and Cimba became my new best pal. After several weeks I asked if he could come stay the weekend as I was still working full time, And slowly we built up the time ..... and here we are 7 years later and he is very much a permanent fixture in my life.”

Bridget with Cimba

I'm Christine, FRA committee member

I'm hugely committed to animal welfare and love all animals.. When I'm not working with the French Riviera Animals Team, I am a piano teacher (Robinson Music) based in Valbonne, and I am also an opera singer. I occasionally practice my singing at FRA headquarters - and Otto and little Evie love to listen. Here they are right now - listening to me sing - front row seats !

Otto and Evie listening to Christine playing and singing

I’m Saskia, FRA committee member.

Growing up in the South of France I always loved animals, however, it was my fearful pup Kaïa who changed my life’s direction and allowed me to fall in love with dog training by helping owners and their dogs communicate better. So grateful to be part of the amazing FRA, as a behaviourist and committee member, helping local animals lives.

Je suis Saskia. Ayant grandi dans le sud de la France, j'ai toujours aimé les animaux, cependant, c'est mon chiot craintif Kaïa qui a changé le sens de ma vie et m'a permis de tomber amoureux de l'éducation canine en aidant les propriétaires et leurs chiens à mieux communiquer. Tellement reconnaissant de faire partie de l'incroyable FRA, en tant que comportementaliste et membre du comité, aidant la vie des animaux locaux.

Saskia with Kaïa

Claire with Womble

I’m Claire, FRA committee member.

I’ve been living in France for 5 years and found out about FRA from friends. I’ve been so impressed and in awe of the work that the FRA team do and am very excited to be joining this fabulous group as a committee member. I adopted my first dog, Womble, in 2017. Womble was found dumped in a rubbish bin as a puppy and was rescued and brought to France. Each day I look at her beautiful face and I am so glad I have her and it makes me even more determined to do what I can to help other abandoned animals find their forever home.