The Power of Showing Up
The June meeting of the Warwickshire Installed Masters Lodge proved to be one of the most inspiring in recent memory as members welcomed Mr Tim James OBE, Deputy Director of Partnerships for the Invictus Games Birmingham 2027, alongside Invictus Games gold medallist Dave Watson and Laura Power, Deputy Head of Fundraising at Fisher House UK.
The evening offered a fascinating insight into the forthcoming Invictus Games and a powerful reminder of the life-changing impact of Fisher House and the Centre for Defence Medicine at Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
Tim James, a serving infantry officer currently on a two-year secondment to the Invictus Games, opened the presentation by outlining plans for the Birmingham 2027 Games. Tim has enjoyed a distinguished military career and was among the team responsible for organising the funeral of His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh.
The Birmingham Games will take place between 10 and 17 July 2027, with events hosted at the NEC and Sandwell Aquatics Centre. All competitors will be accommodated together at the Hilton Hotel on the NEC site, helping to foster the unique sense of camaraderie that has become a hallmark of the Games.
Tim explained that Birmingham will host the eighth Invictus Games. Since their inception, more than 3,000 competitors have taken part. Significantly, Invictus refers to participants as “competitors” rather than “athletes”, reinforcing the belief that the Games are fundamentally about recovery, resilience and personal achievement rather than sporting excellence alone.
The Games are open to W.I.S. competitors – those who are Wounded, Injured or Sick. Their injuries may be visible or non-visible, physical or psychological, but all have faced significant challenges during their recovery journey. The Games provide an opportunity for competitors to rebuild confidence, form lasting friendships and demonstrate what can be achieved through determination and perseverance.
A maximum of 550 competitors from 25 nations will take part, accompanied by around 1,100 family members and friends. Supporting them will be 1,500 volunteers. Such is the enthusiasm for the Games that more than 5,000 volunteer applications have already been received, building upon Birmingham’s strong volunteering legacy from the Commonwealth Games.
The Birmingham Games will also introduce three new sports: pickleball, esports and laser run, a challenging event that combines cross-country running with precision laser pistol shooting.
Explaining why Birmingham was selected as host city, Tim highlighted two key reasons. Firstly, the city is home to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital’s Centre for Defence Medicine and Fisher House, both of which have played a vital role in supporting many competitors and their families. Secondly, Birmingham’s diversity and welcoming character make it an ideal setting for an international event celebrating recovery and resilience.
Throughout his presentation, Tim repeatedly returned to the central philosophy of the Games.
“Invictus is not about medals,” he said. “It’s about showing up.”
His role includes overseeing the family and friends programme, ensuring that those supporting competitors can experience everything Birmingham has to offer rather than remaining confined to sporting venues.
The evening then took a deeply personal turn as Dave Watson shared his extraordinary story.
Born and raised in Preston, Dave had dreamt of joining the Army from a young age. Sensibly, he also trained in the building trade before eventually fulfilling his ambition by joining the Scots Guards.
“I loved military life,” he recalled. “The discipline, the training, every aspect of it – even the bad parts. It made me come alive.”
In 2010, while serving in Afghanistan, Dave’s life changed forever. Just three and a half months into his deployment he stepped on an improvised explosive device. The blast threw him some 15 feet through the air before he landed in water, where he almost drowned before being pulled to safety by fellow Guardsmen.
His injuries were catastrophic. He lost both legs above the knee and his right arm.
Yet even in recounting those darkest moments, Dave’s remarkable sense of humour shone through. Describing the emergency treatment he received on the battlefield, he recalled the agony of the tourniquets applied to save his life. So tightly were they fastened that, as Dave put it, “my shin bones shot off.” He then noticed his right arm hanging uselessly at his side. In typical fashion, he joked that he gave it “a high five” before throwing it across his body.
While the brethren present winced at the graphic nature of the story, Dave’s ability to find humour in even the most traumatic circumstances perfectly illustrated the resilience and positivity that have defined his recovery journey.
After being evacuated to Camp Bastion, Dave was flown back to the United Kingdom. During the journey medical staff had to resuscitate him four times.
As Dave put it, “I died four times.”
Following treatment at Selly Oak Hospital he was transferred to the recently opened Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham. With few patients occupying the new facility, Dave and his fellow servicemen found ways to entertain themselves. Equipped with the ward’s only electric wheelchair, Dave led a twelve-man “wheelchair train” up and down the hospital corridors, much to the amusement of staff and patients alike.
More seriously, he paid tribute to the extraordinary care he received.
“The staff were amazing,” he said.
Following his discharge from Birmingham, Dave continued his rehabilitation at Headley Court, the Armed Forces’ renowned rehabilitation centre in Surrey.
Despite his progress, life after rehabilitation was far from easy. Dave openly spoke about struggling with alcohol and drug issues before eventually deciding to take stock of his life and set himself a new challenge.
That challenge was the Invictus Games.
Initially, success proved elusive. Dave applied twice but was not selected. Following a chance encounter at Heathrow Airport, where journalists mistakenly believed he was part of the returning GB team, he resolved not to apply again.
Fortunately, his wife Beccie had other ideas. Without telling him, she submitted another application on his behalf. This time he was selected to represent Team UK at Toronto 2017, and the results were spectacular.
Dave won gold in the IF6 Discus and bronze in the IF6 Shot Put. A year later, in Sydney, he improved even further, winning gold medals in both discus and shot put to become one of Team UK’s most successful field athletes.
His achievements did not stop there. Inspired by his Invictus success, Dave pursued elite para-athletics with ambitions of reaching the Paralympics or World Championships, training six days a week. Today he serves as an ambassador for the Invictus Games and remains a passionate supporter of Fisher House.
His connection to Fisher House is deeply personal. During the presentation he revealed that he had stayed there while his wife was giving birth to their first daughter at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
Now living locally and working for the Veterans’ Foundation, Dave continues to support fellow veterans. The Foundation, which raises funds primarily through its lottery, has distributed an astonishing £37 million to veterans’ causes since its creation just ten years ago.
Following the presentation, the Worshipful Master, David Butcher, thanked Tim, Dave and Laura for a memorable evening and invited them to join members at the festive board. Dave proved as effective at fundraising as he had been on the athletics field, spending much of the evening encouraging Freemasons to join the Veterans’ Foundation lottery, which offers a top tax-free prize of £75,000 for a £10 monthly ticket.
The festive board provided a memorable moment of good-humoured banter. In proposing the toast to the Provincial Grand Master, David Butcher, himself a past Deputy Provincial Grand Master, said:
“I have given this toast to you on many, many occasions and everything I have said in the past still stands.”
In response, the Provincial Grand Master, Philip Hall, simply replied:
“In the spirit in which you have proposed this toast … ditto.”
The evening concluded with a significant gesture of support from Warwickshire Freemasons as David Butcher presented Tim James with a cheque for £5,000 towards the Invictus Games.
It was a fitting end to an evening that celebrated courage, resilience, recovery and the enduring power of community support. For all those present, the message was clear: the Invictus Games are not about winning medals. They are about overcoming adversity, rebuilding lives and having the courage to show up.