Leeds Ramblers stunned by surprise visit from President
Offering one or two walks every Saturday, Leeds Ramblers are very used to members from other groups and visitors to the area joining them. However walk leader, Jane Ashley , was somewhat stunned when Amar Latif, the President of the Ramblers, and his sighted guide, Rayyah, arrived at the starting point, ready to join her 11 mile walk.
Jane said, “We were completely stunned and delighted when Amar turned up without any prior warning. Despite being blind, Amar has completed the Three Peaks walk, amongst many others He simply joined in with the group and was chatting to everybody, asking them to describe the scenery along the route through the Dales, above Grassington. What really surprised us was that for a ‘Masterchef ’ semi-finalist, he had not brought any lunch but we managed to sort this out.”
Amar was born in Rochdale but grew up in Glasgow to Pakistani parents and went completely blind at the age of 18. Despite his disability, he gained a BSc in Mathematics, Statistics and Finance and rose to become Head of Commercial Finance at BT. Frustrated by mainstream travel companies refusing to accept his bookings because of his blindness, in 2004, he founded ‘ Traveleyes’ from his home in Leeds, a travel agency, which specialises in tours for blind and partially sighted travellers. In April 2023, Latif succeeded Stuart Maconie as President of the Ramblers and in November of the same year, received an OBE.
The Chair of Leeds Ramblers, Aileen Bussooa, said, “We were truly honoured that Amar chose to join one of our regular walks. A key goal of the Ramblers is to eliminate barriers to the outdoors and enable more people to enjoy walking in nature. Amar has done so much through his television work to encourage those with disabilities to take up walking. As a Pakistani, he has done so much to encourage walking amongst the ethnic minorities who often feel excluded from joining local walking groups."
The Leeds Ramblers regularly welcome a group of adults with special needs and we would encourage anybody from a disabled or ethnic background who would like to take up walking, to give us a try.” Full details of how to join Leeds Ramblers can be found at www.leedsramblers.org