AFTER setting up Help for Heroes in 2007, founder Bryn Parry admits having had sleepless nights worrying about whether he and his wife Emma could reach their £5million target.

However the Downton couple need not have worried, as just three years after the forces charity was launched, it has raised nearly £70million to support service personnel wounded in conflict.

The charity celebrates its third anniversary tomorrow, with projects benefiting so far including a £8m rehabilitation complex at Headley Court and a new £3.5m treatment centre for Combat Stress.

And it was announced in February it is playing a key role in providing five regional personnel recovery centres, including one in Tidworth – which is part of the couple’s plans for the future.

“The next stage is how do we look after these guys whose lives have been torn apart and how can we be there for years to come,” said Mr Parry, who was in the armed forces for ten years.

“We don’t live in a world anymore where we put a wounded soldier in a home. We are talking to young men who lost their legs but still want to run and still have a life and party.

“We have got to look at how that young man can go on and fulfil ambitions and achieve things he never knew he was capable of and move on to have an independent life.

“And if things go wrong, we want to get to him to help him before he gets into dire straits.

“Everything we are doing is needed so it is not like we are building a fund. Of the £70m we have raised, £70m has been spent and allocated already. We need another £40m to do what we want to do.”