A HUDDERSFIELD shopkeeper is leading a charity trek up Mount Snowdon this weekend.
Imran Safdar, manager at Lockwood Convenience Store, has organised the trip to scale the highest mountain in Wales to raise funds for a project to bring fresh water to isolated villages in Ghana.
About 50 people have registered to take part in the sponsored climb – including Imran’s 10-year-old daughter Ayesha, a pupil at Spring Grove School.
Huddersfield-based personal trainers Niall Howard and Graham Kavanagh will also take part – but aim to make things a little harder for themselves by doing exercises with 5kg dumbbells all the way up and down the 3,560ft peak.
Imran, who helps run fundraising group Volunteers for Change, said sponsorship raised would go to the Ghana Water Project run by the Save the Mothers Trust.
He said: “We are aiming to fundraise to build wells and water pumps in deprived villages in Ghana.
“I have organised a number of fundraising events in the past and I went out to Ghana in April to see for myself the work that the project is doing.
“We have 50 climbers registered so far. It’s a multi-ethnic group, all from Yorkshire – predominantly Huddersfield – with ages ranging from nine to 50.”
Save the Mothers Trust was formed in 2003 to help widowed mothers, orphans and needy communities in developing countries become self-sufficient and independent.
The trust provides help in areas such as education, employment and housing.
Projects include ones to establish wells and distribution centres in Ghana, Pakistan and Burkina Faso and to build a hospital for people in rural north-west Pakistan.
With Volunteers for Change, Imran and a group of friends based in Huddersfield and Bradford stage fundraising events for a variety of charities.
Among previous efforts, Imran has compered dinners for causes such as Ruddi’s Retreat and the National Autism Society, washed cars for the British Red Cross and Islamic Relief and run a 10k race for a Muslim education charity.
To donate to the Snowdon trek go to:
www.justgiving.com/Imran-Safdar or for information about the trust visit:
www.smtrust.org.uk/contactus.php
