AHMED (HAMOUDI) AL-MUFTI

Ahmed (Hamoudi) was born in Baghdad, Iraq on 17/5/1976. He arrived in the UK with his parents in 1979. Following his nursery education in Edinburgh (1978-1980) he moved with the family to Cardiff where he attended primary school and later secondary school at St Cyres School, Penarth-Wales. He obtained a diploma from the University of West England-Bristol in 1995, followed by an M.Sc. in Information Systems from the University of Wales Institute Cardiff in 2010.

Hamoudi’s abiding interest in social work eventually led him to become chairman of Kurdish Relief-Wales 1991-1992. His other interests include a passion for Formula1 Car Racing, in which sport his idol was Michael Schumacher. He has attended a few races in the eighties and nineties. In his youth Hamoudi was an avid collector of Star Wars figures, a collection that is now proudly displayed in his house. Finally, his sporting interests extended to WWF, world wrestling federation!

Hamoudi has always enjoyed travelling abroad and he has visited several countries worldwide. When he was at secondary school, he joined The Royal Airforce Cadets becoming a Sargent and later a civilian instructor.

His other hobby is collecting wrist watches and electronic gadgets!!

Now it is time to look back on his rich life of experience and the friends he made.

At the age of 10 young Ahmed may well have glimpsed in a distant future and sung this famous song:

“Forty years on, when afar and asunder
Parted are those who are singing today,
When you look back, and forgetfully wonder
What you were like in your work and your play,
Then, it may be, there will often come o’er you,
Glimpses of notes like the catch of a song –
Visions of boyhood shall float them before you,
Echoes of dreamland shall bear them along,”

Here we are at Hamoudi age 50. What a lot has happened! Empires have collapsed, wars fought and won – or lost.