Taith Patagonia Siôn Brynach's Patagonia Trek
Hydref 2008 October

Biographical details

Siôn Brynach was born in 1968. He was raised in Bangor, Llanllyfni and Gorseinon. He was educated at Ysgol Gyfun Ystalyfera (where he was 'head boy' and was awarded a prize for being 'boy of the year') University of Wales Bangor and Jesus College Oxford. He was awarded an honours degree in Wales at Bangor and researched the themes in 1980s Welsh language poetry for an M. Litt, under the supervision of Professor D. Ellis Evans and Professor Thomas Charles Edwards at Oxford. Before beginning his higher education, he spent three months with the Hothorpe Hall Christian Community in Leicestershire and six months working for the World Council of Churches at Casa Locarno, Locarno, Switzerland

He began his career with three years as Plaid Cymru's first press officer and a further three years working for Centrica (British Gas) as the press and PR officer for the company in Wales and the south west of England. In May 1999 he stood as candidate in the National Assembly's first elections in the Vale of Clwyd and the north Wales additional members' seat. At the beginning of 2000 he began seven years of working for the Church in Wales as Press Officer to the Archbishop and Director of Communication for the Church. The busiest year of his career was in 2002 when the Archbishop of Wales, Rowan Williams, was elected Archbishop of Canterbury and Siôn found himself grappling with a world-wide story which made the front pages of newspapers on five continents. In 2004 Siôn was given the opportunity of sharing some of the lessons learnt during this period at conferences in the USA and Iceland, organising a conference himself in March 2006 for church communicators from northern Europe. Between 2004 and 2006 he was heavily involved with Cymru Yfory / Tomorrow's Wales, the group established under the Chairmanship of Archbishop Barry Morgan, to promote the principles of governance in Wales outlined by the Richard Commission. In December 2006 he began as the BBC Trust's Accountability Adviser in Wales, a fortnight before the Trust fully adopted its new role with the advent of the new Royal Charter on New Year's Day, 2007.

Siôn has been married to Cathrin since 1993 and they have three children - seven, four and a year old. In his scarce spare time, Siôn particularly enjoys taking Iolo the dog for walks, photography and exercising on his Concept II rowing machine - the perfect preparations for the trek to Patagonia in October 2008. He is also at present learning Spanish, also in preparation for the trek He is the son of Saunders and Cynthia Davies and brother of Angharad.