Tributes pour in for the 'inspiring' Help for Heroes co-founder Bryn Parry following his death

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Tributes are being paid to the "inspiring" co-founder of Wiltshire-based charity Help for Heroes who has died.

Bryn Parry died on 13 April aged 66 from pancreatic cancer, the charity announced.

The Prince of Wales is among those who have been paying their tributes to the former solider, describing him as a "life-affirming, inspirational man".

Mr Parry and his wife Emma founded the charity Help for Heroes in 2007 at an industrial unit in Wiltshire after finding out about ex-servicemen's struggles to access rehabilitation treatment.

Because of him, more than 27,000 veterans and their families have received vital support.

Speaking in 2008 about his decision to set up the base in Wiltshire, Mr Parry said: "It's one of those moments when we said we've got a great life, here we are running our little business and suddenly something comes along, hits you smack in the face and you've got to do something."

One of those is television presenter JJ Chalmers, who suffered life-changing injuries from an IED blast in Afghanistan.

"When I Iook at the impact he's had actually it's the way he rebranded what a veteran was for my generation", he said.

"I often say I was blown up at the right time, and that may seem a strange thing but the reality is I joined a recovery service that was running at full tilt in 2011.

"They were there for every part of our recoveries and so when I try to think where I'd be without Help for Heroes it's pretty unimaginable really."

With the money raised through the charity, a network of recovery centres were built, including one in Tidworth in Wiltshire.

As a former soldier himself, Bryn Parry's friends say he wanted to make sure that when  servicemen and women came back broken they'd be looked after.

Bryn Parry in royal company at Tedworth House in Tidworth, where the Help for Heroes Recovery Centre was opened. Credit: PA Images

Mark Elliott, Head of External Operations at Help for Heroes said: "He was passionate, committed, driven, stubborn a once in a generation person and I really mean that."

"His commitment and his drive to help sick and injured servicemen and women and their families was unstoppable.

"His legacy is those men and women and even today are living a better life now than they would have done had Bryn Parry not stood up and done something."

Bryn Parry and his wife had already been awarded an OBE, and in February he was honoured with a CBE at his home in Wiltshire.