Most people go to Kefalonia for a relaxing break.

Not Chatham man John Ellett, whose devoted so much of his holiday time to helping the Greek island’s population of abandoned dogs that he’s become a local celebrity.

The 58-year-old from Symons Avenue, Chatham, was first struck by the plight of island’s canine population during a holiday three years ago, and began working with Greek charity ARK (Animal Rescue Kefalonia) after befriending an ill-treated stray dog.

Since then he’s helped rescue dozens of stray dogs, had a confrontation with an angry farmer and raised more than 1,000 euros with a boot fair, all of which has won him an official commendation from the Mayor of Kefalonia.

"We gave up three days of our holiday, had a stand off with a very angry farmer, the Greek police were called and at the end of it we managed to take the worse dog away and into the safety of the shelter." - John Ellett

Now Mr Ellett, who works for ICM Plastic Moulding Ltd on Medway City Estate, is going one step further in aid of ARK, by throwing himself out of a plane on Saturday, April 18.

He explained how his fundraising work had inspired him to go on a rescue mission with ARK during a recent trip.

“What we witnessed was really terrible,” he said. “We gave up three days of our holiday, had a stand off with a very angry farmer, the Greek police were called and at the end of it we managed to take the worse dog away and into the safety of the shelter.

“It was also on the day that we took her into the shelter that we met what turned out to be our adopted Greek dog Andi, a type of Spaniel. She has lived with us now for nearly six months and she is a beauty.”

Companies sponsoring Mr Ellett so far include Rainham Meats of Chatham; ICM Plastic Moulding; Unigloves; Mid Kent Tools & Fixings; Dutch dog charity GagiDogs, and a snack bar in Holland called Snackbar Rembrandt,

Having already been featured in the Kefalonian press, he is due to be interviewed for a second time by Kefalonian radio after his skydive, which has already raised more than £1000.

To donate visit www.animalrescuekefalonia.com, and reference “John’s Animal Rescue Skydive for ARK”.