Help for Heroes

Help for Heroes was co-founded by Bryn Parry and his wife Emma, and launched in October 2007 after a meeting with General Sir Richard Dannatt, Chief of the General Staff, the then professional head of the British Army.[5] Bryn had served with the Royal Green Jackets for ten years, before leaving to become a cartoonist. The couple visited Selly Oak Hospital, where they met injured servicemen and women, in July 2007, and decided they needed to do something to help.[6] Bryn and Emma Parry were both invested with the OBE in the 2010 Queen's Birthday Honours for their services to charity on 25 November 2010.[7]

In August 2012, a group of wounded ex-servicemen, featured in a report for BBC's Newsnight, criticised Help for Heroes for its relationship to the Ministry of Defence (MoD). The criticism was levelled because of the charity's decision to use funds to subsidise expensive MoD buildings, rather than for soldiers' everyday care. The charity had agreed to spend £153 million on constructing and running five regional MoD Personnel Recovery Centres, primarily for serving military personnel, which discharged servicemen could only use on a case-by-case basis.[8][9] A subsequent investigation by the BBC's Editorial Complaints Unit into the original Newsnight report upheld the charity's complaint about the programme, and concluded that "there was no evidence to back Newsnight's claim about Help for Heroes".[10] The BBC issued an official apology over it on 16 May 2013.[11][12] but the BBC journalist who complied the report stood by his findings and the source's legitimacy [13]

In May 2013, Help for Heroes hit the headlines when British soldier Lee Rigby was murdered in Woolwich, London. Rigby had been wearing a Help for Heroes hooded sweatshirt when he was horrifically killed by repeated machete wounds from an Islamic fundamentalist, and the charity received over £600,000 in donations in the week following the attack.[14][15]

In November 2016, Melanie Waters, former chief executive of The Poppy Factory, became the chief executive of the charity when Bryn Parry stood down after nine years in charge.[16][6]

In October 2016, it was revealed that Help For Heroes had paid out £158,000 to settle employment claims over the past 4 years.[17] There had been bullying allegations relating to staff at the Tedworth House recovery centre in Wiltshire.[17]

Help For Heroes had helped the Royal British Legion in the training, selection and development of the UK team in the Invictus Games in 2022.[18] The Ministry of Defence ceased support for Help For Heroes at the Invictus Games in May 2022, and gave sole responsibility for the UK team to the Royal British Legion.[18]

Chavasse VC House Personnel Recovery Centre, Colchester, is owned by the Ministry of Defence (MoD), but its construction and operation are funded in part by Help for Heroes.

In partnership with the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and The Royal British Legion (RBL), Help for Heroes runs four recovery centres: Tedworth House[19] (Tidworth, Wiltshire), Chavasse VC House (Colchester, Essex), Naval Service Recovery Centre (Plymouth, Devon), and Phoenix House (Catterick, North Yorkshire).[20][21]

In September 2020, due to the financial strain of the COVID-19 pandemic, Help for Heroes announced that it was closing three of its recovery centres for the foreseeable future (Catterick, Plymouth and Colchester), and would instead be focusing on digital and community recovery delivery.[22] Some 145 jobs (80% of the staff) were put at risk on 17 September 2020.[23]

Tedworth House, near Tidworth, Wiltshire, is one of the MoD Recovery Centres, with Help for Heroes providing major funding for all of the recovery support programmes.

Many veterans and their families experience social isolation. The charity set up its Band of Brothers (veterans) and Band of Sisters (loved ones) fellowship programme to tackle this.[24]

Help for Heroes has been involved with sports recovery since 2008, giving the charity's beneficiaries access to over 50 sports every year, and enabling wounded, injured, and sick service personnel, and veterans to take part in adaptive sports; from grass-roots through to performance level.[25]

Help for Heroes works in partnership with the British Paralympic Association (BPA).[26]

Help for Heroes was responsible for the training, selection, and development of Team UK in the first four editions of the Invictus Games: 2014 (London), 2016 (Orlando, Florida, USA), 2017 (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), and 2018 (Sydney). Help for Heroes worked in partnership with the Ministry of Defence and the Royal British Legion to support the UK team.[27][28] The charity was to deliver and train the 65-strong team at the 2020 Invictus Games in the Hague, which was postponed to 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In May 2022, it was announced that the Ministry of Defence had put an end (before the 2022 edition) to Help for Heroes' association with the Invictus Games, leaving the Royal British Legion as the only entity responsible for supporting the UK team.[18]

The oldest beneficiary of the charity is Robbie Clarke, who was 96 when he received an emergency grant in 2015, to ensure he could remain living at home.[29]

In September 2020, the charity announced that its income was falling due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[23] 97% of its 2020 fundraising was from public donations.[23]

Supporters' events

Hawk T1 of the Royal Air Force Red Arrows

On 5 September 2008, H4H held a Heroes Ball to raise funds. A charity auction included a Royal Air Force (RAF) donated prize to fly with the Red Arrows, the RAF's aerobatics team. The winning bid was £1.5 million which gave the winner, Julie Heselden, the chance for her and eight family members to fly in the team's Hawk jets. The RAF said of the bid, "We know it is a special prize – a once in a lifetime opportunity – but we are all astounded that someone could be so generous. The RAF is genuinely delighted to have helped in raising such a fantastic amount of money for such a worthwhile charity."[30]

The Help for Heroes Board of Trustees, who work in an unpaid, voluntary capacity, are responsible for the overall control and strategic direction of the charity. The chair of the trustees is Nigel Boardman, a former partner at corporate law firm Slaughter and May.[46][47]

The charity's ambassadors include:[48]

• Johnson Beharry – a soldier of the 1st Battalion, Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment who was awarded the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest military decoration for valour in the British and Commonwealth armed forces, for twice saving members of his unit from ambushes on 1 May and 11 June 2004 at Al-Amarah, Iraq; he sustained serious head injuries in the latter engagement.
• Major Peter Norton – an officer with the Royal Logistic Corps who was awarded the George Cross (GC) for his service in Iraq.

Patrons include:[48]

• General The Lord Dannatt – former professional head of the British Army
• Ross Kemp – BAFTA award-winning actor, and journalist, who rose to prominence in the role of Grant Mitchell in the BBC soap opera, EastEnders; has spent time with British troops in Afghanistan filming Ross Kemp in Afghanistan
• Mark Sutcliffe – serving with the 2nd Battalion ('The Poachers'), The Royal Anglian Regiment; he lost his left leg in Basra in July 2006 after being hit by a rocket-propelled grenade
• WO2 Andy Newell – serving in 16 Air Assault Brigade; in July 2006, his right arm was shattered in the bitter and prolonged fighting at Musa Qala in Helmand Province, Afghanistan
• Andy Stockton – served with 32 Regiment Royal Artillery for nearly twenty years reaching the rank of Warrant Officer Class 2 (WO2); he served three tours of Northern Ireland, three tours in Iraq, and in Afghanistan. He lost his arm during an ambush by the Taliban in Sangin, Helmand Province, Afghanistan in June 2006, and was medically discharged from the Army in September 200
• Andy McNab – former soldier in the Royal Green Jackets and then the SAS with whom he served in the Gulf War. He commanded the Bravo Two Zero patrol in January 1991, which was given the task of destroying underground communication links in Iraq and mobile Scud launchers. Three of the eight-man patrol were killed, one escaped, and four were taken prisoner by the Iraqis and tortured over a six-week period. He has since written a number of books, and appeared in Andy McNab's Tour of Duty, a documentary television series about the War in Afghanistan, and the Iraq War in 2008. He was the most highly decorated serving soldier in the British Army when he left the SAS in 1993.
• Ken Hames – a former SAS officer who now works as a television presenter and motivational speaker

Help for Heroes was awarded the Support to the Armed Forces award during the 2008 Sun Military Awards – "For a civilian, a civil servant, a contractor, or just an ordinary member of the public, who has provided invaluable help to the Armed Forces".

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Help for Heroes.

• Official website
• "Help for Heroes, registered charity no. 1120920". Charity Commission for England and Wales.