New Member

Daphne Tonna-Barthet - Secretary

I first joined Elmbridge u3a in 2012 after I decided to retire early and initially was looking for a walking group or two. I quickly signed up to several of the activity groups - so now I’m really busy! I’m a member of the Adventure group, Film club, Pickleball and Padel tennis clubs and recently I thought I’d give line dancing a go - in case I enjoyed it and of course, I do.

Outside of the u3a umbrella my main interests are yoga, art, history and modern jazz, so I spend a lot of time in the Xcel Centre in Walton-on- Thames and in galleries, museums and a wide variety of music venues.Fortunately, I still find time to enjoy reading and the theatre and I am partial to the occasional TV drama series

Since I met my husband, when we were both studying for Honours Degrees with the Open University 30 years ago, we have travelled widely. My favourite overseas holidays were exploring the Nile with visits to temples, tombs, museums and of course, the Pyramids, the Sphinx and the Valley of the Kings; and a three-week music and art themed self-drive from New Orleans to Chicago via Vicksburg, Memphis, Nashville and St. Louis.

Other ‘highlights’ were scaling the Millenium Dome and the Spurs Stadium and abseiling 100+ metres down the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth. Also, hot air ballooning over the Valley of the Kings in Egypt at dawn and over the amazing landscape of Cappadocia in Turkey - both were inspired after a balloon ride in Berkshire - who knew Berkshire was so beautiful when seen from above!