Page 355 - They Also Served

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Bryn Parry 1975.
Bryn St Pierre Parry was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire, on 22nd September 1956. His father, a serving army officer, was killed on an exercise in Germany five years later and Parry and his mother and brother grew up in a caravan on a relation’s farm. Later, he received a Foundation Scholarship (for the children of soldiers who died in service) to Wellington College. Commissioned into the Royal Green Jackets in 1975 from SMC 8, he served three tours of Northern Ireland before resigning his commission in 1985.
Already a talented cartoonist who
wiled away off-duty hours at Sandhurst
and with his regiment by sketching
his colleagues, he expanded his business, setting up a studio and branching into sculpture. However, in 2007, Parry and his wife Emma visited the military wing of the Birmingham Selly Oak hospital and were appalled to see dozens of severely wounded soldiers recovering from the loss of limbs in Iraq and Afghanistan. Realising that rehabilitation care could be improved, they set up a charity called Help for Heroes. The initial aim was simply to raise money for a swimming pool at the Hedley Court Centre in Surrey, as the injured were using the public facility in a nearby town.
The charity, with its cartoon logos designed by Parry, soon gathered pace and public support as well as the endorsement of members of the royal family and high-profile celebrities. Moving on from the swimming pool, the charity focussed on the care of injured service personnel after their discharge and funded centres in several major garrisons as well as the refurbishment of Tedworth House on Salisbury Plain. The charity was an early backer of the Invictus Games, with both Princes William and Harry as prominent supporters. The charity also organised fundraising sports events and concerts. At one charity auction, a bidder pledged £1.5million for flights for their family with the Red Arrows. The David Bowie song, Heroes, sung by the X
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