Cymbrogi Champions
Exceptional times call for exceptional people. We are a collaborative crew of thinkers, do-ers and creators from a wide range of fields - sustainability, wellbeing, creative arts and collaborative learning. Adventurers, poets and storytellers. Fabulous folk who share our passion for learning done differently. We call them our Champions.
Sustainable & Circular Futures
Dr Verity Jones
Lead, Sustainable and Circular Futures
Verity is our lead on all things sustainable in education. Associate Professor at University of the West of England (UWE), Bristol, she has done extensive research with young people about climate change, sustainability and fast fashion disruption. She is the Education Lead for Global Goals Centre and SPARKS (a new sustainability hub in Bristol). She also co-wrote the Who Made My Clothes? course on Future learn and is Trustee to the award-winning education charity The Darwin Centre in Wales.
Dr Jennifer Rudd
Climate Change Educator
Jennifer is Senior Lecturer in Sustainability at Swansea University. She has worked closely with us in the design of our Tomorrow’s Changemaker programme, and has also conducted research on Cymbrogi’s onsite educator programmes to ensure we’re delivering the right kinds of impacts…
Jennifer is a proper scientist! A chemist by training, she is also project lead of You and CO2 – a climate change education programme for KS3 students to teach climate change using an interdisciplinary approach. She is also Founder of “Richness in Diversity: Academic Careers in STEM” at Swansea University.
Harri Wavell
Circular Economy Educator
Harri worked for many years as a curriculum designer and educator at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, with a core focus on the Circular Economy. As Schools and Colleges Manager he designed and delivered teaching and learning materials for learners and educators. A former English teacher, he has many strings to his bow, not least part-time poet and musician, which makes him great company around the campfire! A passion for surfing means he’s only too happy to pop down to Wales to catch some waves with us too…
Garry Thomas
Chief Forager
A longtime resident of Lawrenny, Garry knows the local landscapes like the back of his hands. Forager, former park ranger and conservationist, Garry has decades of experience in the local ecology of Pembrokeshire’s national park and a wealth of knowledge about its history and culture. He regularly delights learners and teachers with his insights, bringing the magic of foraging, landscapes and legends to life on our programmes.
Wellbeing
Shaun Brooking
Lead, Wellbeing
Shaun specialises in a whole body, whole person approach to health and wellbeing. Drawing upon 12 years of training, knowledge and experience in movement coaching, injury rehabilitation and embodied learning, Shaun works as a Movement Coach and Somatic Facilitator. He redefines wellbeing beyond the physical, to include mental, emotional and relational wellbeing, helping clients to make the critical connection between mind and body. In doing so he empowers them to take charge of their own wellbeing journeys.
Jo Grace
Facilitator, Wellbeing
Jo has worked for over 30 years with children, young people, vulnerable adults and women as a community environmental artist and permaculture teacher. She is also a qualified psychotherapist with a focus on Nervous System Health, Embodiment and Relational Neuroscience. She is passionate about working with individuals and groups therapeutically to support deeper relationships with the environment. Acutely aware of the link between individual mental health issues, societal challenges, environmental crises and climate anxiety, Jo has a vision of communities both co-regulating and self-regulating, in tandem within a balanced and healthier earth. We are lucky that she has chosen West Wales to be her home!
Creativity & the Curriculum
Al Brunker
Lead, Creativity & the Curriculum
Al is our Lead Champion for Creativity & the Curriculum. A trainer, performance poet and recovering lawyer, he is also founder of Let’s Do This, running training courses in creative thinking for a range of third sector and corporate clients. For over 20 years, Al has worked with charities such as the Prince’s Trust and YMCA, and delivered communication workshops for students in over 200 state secondary schools. He is also an award-winning slam poet and does an occasional side hustle with Liza with The Versability Shop.
Alex Crampton
Lead, Creative Play for Wales
Alex leads on our Creative work-play for Wales. She is a theatre professional who has been facilitating creative play and intuitive expression for over a decade. Alex began her career as an educational practitioner in London with the Donmar Warehouse, and has worked extensively with young people and adults. She uses somatic (physical) theatre techniques and improv games and gamification to help participants connect to their own innate creative genius. Alex moved herself and her particular magic to West Wales, for which we’re deeply grateful!
Phil Okwedy
Storyteller
Phil tells stories to anyone who is willing to listen. He tells stories that come from the richness of the world’s oral tradition. Having been a teacher, Phil understands that storytelling is a powerful tool for raising standards in literacy as well as playing a crucial role in developing emotional literacy skills in young people. In 2010 Phil became a trainee of the MYTHOS-Grundtvig project, a partnership of 5 international storytelling festivals providing and exchanging training of storytelling techniques and methods. He now uses this experience to provide training for those wanting to become storytellers.
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