Bryn Parry Keynote Speaker

Losing his father at four years old, Bryn and his family lived in a caravan while his mother drove a tractor to make ends meet. He was given a free education at Wellington College before ‘scraping’ into the army. Serving in the Royal Green Jackets for ten years, he undertook four operational tours and was a jungle warfare instructor in Australia when he decided to become a cartoonist. Emma and Bryn began Bryn Parry Studios in a damp cellar and over twenty-two years built it into a successful business based on his cartoons.

In 2007 they visited Selly Oak hospital, met some wounded soldiers and decided to ‘do something to help’. Help for Heroes was launched in October 2007 and in the nine years Bryn was Chief Executive, H4H raised over £300m and helped thousands of injured Servicemen and women. It was not easy but Bryn was determined to achieve his goal.

Bryn says “In my life, I have learned to lead by example, to communicate clearly and passionately, to identify the aim and to stick to it regardless of the many obstacles put in the way. I have been knocked down but I have always got up again.

I feel the skills I have gained, the mistakes I have made, the lessons I have learnt in my previous lives have given me a very different approach to starting and running a charity, which after all, is a business, albeit with the beneficiaries’ care as the outcome.

I set out with a simple intent, to do my bit to help some blokes and along the road found that I had created an organisation and in doing so, changed how we as a nation support our Armed Forces.

A life without challenges would be dull. As Churchill is quoted as saying ‘Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.’ I feel privileged to have been given this opportunity to help the blokes and I hope my story might inspire others to identify what really matters in life.”

Bryn was appointed OBE in 2010 for services to the Armed Forces.

Bryn’s story is unique but his experiences are relevant to us all as we seek to do the best in life. He is invited to speak to companies, at schools and universities, and to people of all ages and backgrounds interested to hear the human side of his extraordinary story. He talks in a self-deprecating, approachable manner, laced with insights, anecdotes and with a wry sense of humour.

Speaking topics:

• Life; What really matters?
• Three lives; lessons learnt.
• ‘I get knocked down but I get up again’. Change, transition and resilience.
• Creating, building and leading an organisation and then knowing when to step down.
• Leadership; delivering the mission.
• ‘Wading through treacle and talking to turkeys’ Nine years of challenging the establishment. Working with Government, civil servants and the media.
• Tall poppy.  Founders syndrome. Life after the headlines.