Theme park chief gets OBE
Colin Bryan, chief executive at Drayton Manor Park and son of the original founders, has received an OBE.
The honour is in recognition of his charity work and his ongoing contribution to tourism after a career of more than 52 years.
Bryan is a patron of the park’s main charity, KidsOut, a national charity providing fun and happiness for young people living in difficult and challenging circumstances.
Other charities include the RNLI, for which his late mother was hugely involved, as well as the Midlands Air Ambulance, JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation), St Giles Hospice, National Autistic Society, Alzheimer’s Research UK, Birmingham Children’s Hospital, Tamworth Round Table and Tamworth Rotary to name a few.
"My parents opened the park in 1950 and I have been working there since I was a young boy, when my first job was helping them clear the rubble with my miniature wheelbarrow," he said.
"I have worked in nearly every department over the years and qualified as a chef to really understand what makes the park and catering companies what they are today. It is in my blood so I feel very honoured to receive this OBE. I still love watching our guests have fun, enjoying themselves, knowing I have played a part in that."
Bryan’s parents George and Vera Bryan also received OBEs.
The couple purchased a derelict property together with 80 acres of land near Tamworth, Staffordshire, once the home of Sir Robert Peel.
They transformed it into a leisure park, which is now in its 66th year.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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