Couple ask tv guru: should we retire to france ?

Anne and Tony Ashby (pictured) contacted the TV presenter, who went through their lives and finances with a fine-tooth comb.

Their story and what advice Alvin had for them was featured on the 30-minute BBC2 programme Your Money Or Your Life, broadcast on Tuesday.

The Ashbys invited friends, family and neighbours round to their Lychgate Close home for a wine and cheese evening - and to listen to the verdict.

The lively money programme features couples in varying circumstances. These couples' lives and finances are scrutinised by American Alvin who gives advice and returns six months later to see what, if any, progress had been made.

Anne, who works in the legal department at Rother Council, wrote to the programme after the couple could not agree whether to retire to France, where they have holidayed for many years.

"We had been talking about going to France for 15 years or so," said Tony, a former science teacher and now a freelance rugby coach.

"We could not decide if we should get a holiday home somewhere in France or move altogether. I wanted to live there permanently but Anne was unsure so she wrote to the programme a while ago in an effort to persuade me it was not a viable idea and put the final nail in the coffin once and for all."

A programme researcher interviewed the couple in July and later a four-man film crew came down to shoot the couple in various locations in Bexhill, including the De La Warr, St Peter's Church and the Sailing Club. They all then decamped to the Le Touquet region of France.

"It was a marvellous experience," said Tony. "They took us around several properties and tested our ability to communicate in French with a task at a local market. Anne did better than me.

"Alvin is a super bloke. We did a lot of talking and Alvin then went away. He came back in January to see how we had got on.

"We have actually bought a folding caravan and intend to spend long periods in France, driving around to see what we can find."

"The programme has helped us to talk about things better and bring things more out into the open. We talk to each other now, not just the banal. We understand more about our life and what concerns each other."

Not to be outdone by his parents being on T.V, Scott Ashby a former pupil of Bexhill High School who is currently serving in the R.A.F. was invited to attend the Queen's Garden Party at Buckingham Palace in the afternoon of the same day.

Scott, who recently got married, went with his new wife.