Mijas, Malaga - October 6, 2016

1. Wide of coastal area of Mijas

2. Pan of typical apartments in the area and people walking by the sea side

3. Mid of people having drinks on a terrace

4. Various of British pensioners taking Spanish classes in the Parnell School

5. Set up Lesley Lawrence

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Lesley Lawrence, Student of Spanish Nationality Course:

"It's possible that I will change the nationality because of the Brexit vote. It depends how things go after they trigger article 50, because until then we don't know really how it's going to affect us. But if it does affect me and it's better for me to speak and live in Spain, then I shall stay in Spain, rather than go back to the UK. I really have no intention of going back to the UK."

7. Wide of teacher at whiteboard

8. Close up of Lawerence

9. SOUNDBITE (English) Lesley Lawrence, Student of Spanish Nationality Course:

"I was very disappointed with the vote, to put it mildly. I wasn't allowed to vote because I've been living in Spain too long and I felt that was very unjust. It is an European issue, it's not just an issue in Britain and the effects of Brexit are going to affect those of us who've lived in Spain for a long time. It's already affected me, I'm retired, it's affected my pension."

10. Teacher at the whiteboard

11. Mid of students

12. Close of hand writing

13. SOUNDBITE (English) Philip Hubner, Student of Spanish Nationality Course:

"I'm going to make a determined effort to learn the language to integrate with the local people here in Spain. I know a few words, I know how to buy...get a beer, "cerveza", …, "la cuenta por favor", could I have the bill?"

14. Richard Parnell talking to students

15. SOUNDBITE (English) Richard Parnell, Parnell Academy:

"I saw the fallout of the vote to leave and I knew that myself, as a foreigner living in Spain, I would have certain problems and I knew that there would be other people. I was thinking of opening an academy anyway, well, why not make a course that would help these people who need to learn Spanish and maybe help them get their Spanish nationality".

16. Various of Anne Hernandez sitting at a terrace drinking coffee

17. SOUNDBITE (English) Anne Hernandez, University lecturer and co-founder of 'Brexpats in Spain' association:

"Having met people come to us asking for help, we've identified a list of priorities and obviously everybody's individual, but there are general priorities, being for example: health care, pensions, finance and banking, education, and nationality."

18. Mid of Juan Carlos Maldonado, mayor of Mijas, working in his office

19. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Juan Carlos Maldonado, Mayor of Mijas:

"We in the town hall have offered the association that has been created, the Brexpat association which intends to unite all these British people who feel helpless, defenceless or disoriented, all the help that we can provide from Mijas, with the goal of extending (movement) along the "Costa del Sol". Around 65,000 British live in the province of Malaga, so it's a significant part of the population".

20. Close of Maldonado

21. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Juan Carlos Maldonado, Mayor of Mijas:

"When the results of the Brexit (referendum) were known, a big uncertainty was created. We're talking about the (local) economy, because it's tourism, residential tourism, and in the local administration this uncertainty creates a concern, because we know how important tourism is for us".

22. Various of woman on beach

23. Various of Royal Beach bar in a predominantly British residential area of Mijas called Calahonda

24. Pan of beach and the owner of Royal Beach talking

25. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Sergio Morales, co-owner of Royal Beach bar in Mijas:

"Most of our clients here, around 80% of them, are British. And then a few of everything: Dutch, Germans, Norwegians, Spaniards… a bit of everything, but the most abundant in Calahonda is the British".

26. Various of people at the seaside

27. Wide of the beach

28. Wide of people on the beach

LEAD IN:

Brexit has cast uncertainty over the future of thousands of British residents living in Spain's Costa del Sol.

EU leaders are due soon to begin unprecedented - and knotty - negotiations on how to extricate the UK from the bloc.

Some Britons living in Spain are considering changing nationality and brushing up on their Spanish language skills.

STORY-LINE:

A cloud of uncertainty hangs over British expats in Spain.

Nobody is saying what the rights of Britons living in the EU might be in a future outside the bloc. Many are worried about losing entitlements in Spain, which is part of the EU.

A dozen students, most of them British pensioners who have been living in the "Costa del Sol" for decades, have joined a new Spanish Nationality Course at the Parnell Academy in Mijas.

They're learning the basics of the language, as well as some local history and culture, to prepare for two exams that must be taken ahead of being granted Spanish Nationality.

"I really have no intention of going back to the UK", says Lesley Lawrence, one of the students, who has been living in Spain for around 20 years.

"It's possible that I will change my nationality because of the Brexit vote", she adds. "It depends how things go after they trigger article 50, because until then we don't know how it's going to affect us."

Another student Philip Hubner has owned a house in Spain for 17 years and moved to Mijas full time two years ago. He is now keen to mingle more with the local Spaniards.

"I'm going to make a determined effort to learn the language to integrate with the local people here in Spain. I know a few words, I know how to buy...get a beer, "cerveza", …, "la cuenta por favor", could I have the bill?"

The owner of the school, Richard Parnell, is familiar with both countries. He was born in Britain and has lived in Spain since he was 5 years old.

After the Brexit result he started the course to help his fellow Brits living in Spain to cope with the long term implications.

"I saw the fallout of the vote to leave and I knew that myself, as a foreigner living in Spain, I would have certain problems and I knew that there would be other people. I was thinking of opening an academy anyway, well, why not make a course that would make these people who need to learn Spanish and maybe help them get the Spanish nationality," he explains.

The value of the British currency is another major concern. Many retired expats, live on a U.K. pension that is sent in pounds and pensioners must exchange that income to the Euro, which is used in Spain.

The pound has lost almost a fifth of its value since June 23.

Shortly after the Brexit vote, Anne Hernandez, a decades-long British resident in Mijas, co-founded the 'Brexpats in Spain' association, to try to address those fears.

"Having met people come to us asking for help, we've identified a list of priorities and obviously everybody's individual, but there are general priorities, being for example: health care, pensions, finance and banking, education, and nationality," she says.

The association currently has 2,800 members and has expanded outside the borders of Mijas to other towns along the coast.

The local mayor's office estimates that there are 11,000 British residents in Mijas, out of a total population of 80,000, so the mayor takes a strong interest in their concerns.

"We in the town hall have offered the association that has been created, the Brexpat association which intends to unite all these British people who feel helpless, defenceless or disoriented, all the help that we can provide from Mijas, with the goal of extending (movement) along the "Costa del Sol". Around 65,000 British live in the province of Malaga, so it's a significant part of the population," explains Juan Carlos Maldonado, the mayor of Mijas.

"When the results of the Brexit (referendum) were known, a big uncertainty was created. We're talking about the (local) economy, because it's tourism, residential tourism, and in the local administration this uncertainty creates a concern, because we know how important tourism is for us," he adds.

An estimated 1.2 million Britons live in other EU countries, many of them in France, Spain and Portugal, according to Britain's House of Commons library.

But analysts believe the true number could be at least double that — and maybe a lot more, because many don't bother registering with their embassies or the local authorities.