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 Foundationer (for the children of soldiers who died in service) Scholarship 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 1975.

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 out 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 with the initial aim of raising money for a swimming pool at the Hedley Court Centre where the injured were using the 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 supporter of the Invictus Games, with both Princes William and Harry prominent supporters, and also organised fund raising 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 Factor contestants, went straight to number one in the pop charts and outsold the next ten singles in its first week. The charity, with its celebrity backers, high media profile and overt support from the Armed Forces, in an unintended consequence, drew other major service charities, such as the Royal British Legion, into rebranding and modernising.

Help for Heroes did attract some criticism, for initially only supporting those injured in current conflicts but gradually expanded its remit with its oldest beneficiary a 96-year-old. Nevertheless, in 2010 the Parry’s were awarded a rare double OBE for their work with the charity and, by 2023, Help for Heroes had raised over 260 million pounds and assisted 27,000 beneficiaries. In 2016, Bryn Parry stepped down as CEO of the charity and in 2022 was diagnosed with cancer. Awarded the CBE in the 2023 New Years Honours list, he died on 12th April 2023.