Trustees
Below are the biographies of the Bardsey Island Trust Trustees
Jacquie Jones - Acting-Chair (since Sept 2023 whilst Chair on Maternity Leave)
My home is on LlÅ·n, where my family have lived for over a century. Like many around me, I feel a special affinity, respect, and fascination with Enlli. Having visited the island several times, I believe strongly that it is important to protect and sympathetically develop the island’s natural beauty and its spiritual, artistic, cultural, and economic life.
My background is in the tourist industry which I worked in for just over 16 years holding several senior positions. After a career break to bring up my family, I returned to work locally but this time in the Charity sector. I currently manage the fundraising across Wales for Guide Dogs for the Blind.
My current role is to think strategically to ensure that we raise sustainable income. I manage an extensive fundraising group network (20 groups with around 300 volunteers) and am responsible for initiating campaigns, recruiting, training, and mentoring. I also monitor and respond to financial performance and ensure that we follow correct governance. We work as an effective team and have fun. As well as managing the groups, I develop and maintain good working relationships with other existing and new supporters, local organisations, businesses, community groups, and schools.​​
In my spare time I continue to enjoy travel, am very interested in the visual arts, dance and reading. I am Secretary for the Nefyn group of churches and help with the youth section at Pwllheli sailing club. I am happiest sharing a meal with family and friends.
Philip Owen - Treasurer
I am Welsh, from a rural community in north Wales, and have visited, and loved the LlÅ·n Peninsula for over 40 years. I have a long-lasting personal connection with the area; my brother in-law continues to farm in Boduan.
Following my graduation from university, I trained as a chartered accountant and worked in the profession for 12 years. I subsequently joined the European Commission and have worked in several policy areas. For the latter part of my European career, I have managed teams involved in environmental and climate policy matters such as road transport and fuels, air quality, fluorinated gases as well as project funding issues.
I want to share my financial and environmental and climate knowledge with the Trust and help it move forward to build a green plan for Enlli. I recognise the social, environmental and economic hurdles that will arise, and I am motivated to help the Trust overcome them.
David Giblin
I have been a frequent visitor to the local area all of my life and it is on the LlÅ·n Peninsula where I feel truly at home. I am married with two children and as a family we have developed an affinity with Enlli.
I graduated from Liverpool University and began my career with Kellogg’s before going on to hold leadership positions with companies including Shell and Nike. I have experience of leading change, developing strategy, building teams, transforming businesses and delivering sustainable growth. I have also worked internationally including periods living in the Netherlands, United States and Switzerland.
When not working I like to travel and have become a passionate runner who has completed the London marathon four times in support of different charities. I hope that my commercial and business experience will prove to be beneficial, and I am delighted to be given the opportunity to support the trust.
Alwyn Jones
I am from Llanuwchllyn, born into a farming community and originally trained as a mechanical engineer. I joined Gwynedd Council’s Highways Dept. in 1975. In 2002 I was appointed as Head of Human Resources with responsibilities for all the Council’s staffing matters. In the past I have presented numerous TV programmes including the first live broadcasts from The Royal Welsh Show. I am a JP, a governor at Ysgol Godre’r Berwyn, a board member of Theatr Bara Caws, Cwmni Pum Plwyf Penllyn and a member of Llanuwchllyn Community Council.
Since my retirement in 2018 I have been able to visit Ynys Enlli on several occasions and fallen in love with the island. I am aware of the significant challenges associated with running, maintaining and developing the island.
Dot Tyne
My first experience of Enlli was a rushed 2 hr visit to look at TÅ· Pellaf with view to making it my home. Tim and I lived on the island from 1994 – 1998, looking after the sheep flock and playing an active role in the island community, getting married and starting a family during that time. Working as a volunteer in recent years, together with my daughters, has revived my contact with the island, and now my children are almost grown up I have more time to pursue my interest in it.
In addition to raising a family and building a viable farm business on the LlÅ·n Peninsula, I have worked as Administrator, Company Secretary and Treasurer to several sizeable membership associations and charities. With a combined membership of over 1000 individuals, I have extensive experience of how to run and manage non-profit making organisations.
I was very young when I lived on Enlli and it was a formative time of my life. I gained so much from it and it made me who I am. Now I want to give something back and I feel that serving as a Trustee is a way to do this, in addition to regular stints as a volunteer. I am passionate that Enlli should continue to have a living, viable, albeit small, community – it is one of the things that make Enlli so special. Looking at the island in a holistic way and being respectful of all the threads of interest that make up the whole, is, I hope, a positive view which can benefit and assist the Bardsey Island Trust in its work.
Helen Wilcox​ - Chair of Spirituality Committee
I am professor emerita of English Literature at Bangor University, with a life-long interest in devotional writing, particularly the work of poets such as George Herbert and R.S.Thomas. With my husband Allan, I have been visiting Enlli since we moved to North Wales in 2006, and Allan has been an island chaplain each year since 2011. We are particularly committed to the spirituality and pilgrimage history of the island; we are also enjoying discovering the wonders of its landscape, flora and bird life.
Back at home, I am the churchwarden of the medieval church of St Peris, tucked beneath the slopes of Snowdon in our tiny village of Nant Peris. As well as being a lover of all kinds of literature, I'm very interested in history and the visual arts, and hope to contribute to the Trust's cultural role. Allan and I also both love making music: Allan is a jazz bass player, while I'm a pianist and cellist. Once I got the members of my string quartet onto the island to play Welsh folk song arrangements in that most inspiring setting - unforgettable!
Lona Williams
I was born and raised in the local area, with a big interest in Bardsey Island. It is a privilege to support the trust.
I work as a Regional Operational Excellence Business Partner for a UK wide organisation in the tourist industry. I have worked for the company for over 13 years in managerial positions. My role involves supporting business change by thinking strategically. The business change is in efficiency, individual managers' key skills, financial performance through cost and wages control, and building a sustainable productivity in the future of the department. I have experience in site visits and inspections. I also support training, through one to one or workshop training days.
Sarah Purdon
I grew up in mid Wales close to the sea, looking out towards Enlli. After graduating from the University of East Anglia with a degree in Ecology, I returned to Wales with a short stint volunteering on Skomer island. Thus began my love affair with the Welsh islands. I lived and worked on Skomer as Assistant Warden in 2017, 2018 and 2019, so I'm very familiar with the challenges and rewards of living on and caring for these important islands, especially on limited funds!
I moved off Skomer in order to return to mid Wales, still working for the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales, now as mid Wales red squirrel officer. I'm keen to remain involved in the Welsh islands and looking forward to getting to know Enlli as well as I know Skomer.
Dilwyn Morgan
I was born in Garnfadryn where I grew up on a small farm. Following a period in the Merchant Navy as Deck Officer I became deputy head of the Urdd Camp at Glan Llyn and then Llyn Tegid Warden for Snowdonia National Park before moving on to various posts all involving management.
I am a member of Gwynedd Council and Cabinet Member for Children’s Services and family support. I am also trustee of Bala Children’s Centre and Governor of Ysgol Godre’r Berwyn. I am chair of the third sector liaison Group in Gwynedd. My interests are sailing, walking cycling and travelogues. Enlli has been very important to me for many years and recently have been accompanied by my 9 year old grandson who has a great interest in wildlife. It is a huge privilege for me to contribute to ensuring a sustainable prosperous and secure future for the community in Enlli.
Alun Llwyd
I am the Chief Executive of PYST Ltd. My motivation for being a trustee is varied. In my day to day work I am involved in promoting Welsh and Welsh culture and being able to tell those stories to a wider audience through AM's digital platform (which I set up three years ago). I have a fundamental belief in the importance of community activity and success to the welfare and development of the nation economically and culturally and the importance and history of Enlli is an integral part of that for me. The evolution of the Island into the future is something exciting although challenging but represents the basic values we should promote: environmentally, socially, culturally and economically. Especially following Covid, I have seen how the digital medium can develop public engagement with specific stories and that is what AM is doing and that to a large audience.
The motivation is also personal. I am a keen birder, a trustee of the Ornithological Society of Wales, and consequently appreciate the importance of Enlli in this context as well. I am also chair of the Culture Committee.
Deryl Roberts
I live in Powys, with family roots on the LlÅ·n Peninsula, and I stay on Ynys Enlli for a week every year. Enlli is a unique and special place which has become a very important part of my life. I want to become a trustee so that I can help to ensure that Enlli thrives into the future and that its community, wildlife, landscape and heritage are protected and appreciated for current and future generations. I bring over 30 years of experience in environmental and sustainability consultancy and I believe that I can use my technical and business skills to support the Trust in continuing to make Enlli an exemplar of a sustainable Welsh island community.
Dewi Lewis
I am a native of Porthmadog but have lived in Clydach, Tawe Valley since 1989. I have visited Ynys Enlli since 2008 as a weekly visitor and also on day trips. I am interested in the history and culture of Ynys Enlli. I am a keen birder and lover of nature in general. I have an honours degree in Theology and the spiritual and religious aspects of Enlli are something that are also close to my heart. I am looking forward to being a member of the Bardsey Island Trustees and being able to work to ensure a bright and prosperous future.