Within a year of the first international flights to Zante this little gem of an island was becoming unrecognisable. As head rep for Sunmed I had the impossible task of calming down angry guests who had come to find the “real Greece” only to discover it was very real! The island just couldn’t cope with the demands of the new breed of holiday maker who wanted it to be authentic but expected everything to be just as it was back home.

If I’d had my sensible head on, I would have accepted the offer of one of the other islands but I’d returned to Zante in 1983 in the vain hope that I’d find Foxie, my first Greek rescue dog, who had gone missing from a friend’s home whilst I was back in England with Mum after my Dad died suddenly.

Fortunately, not all the guests were nightmares and those lovely people who came to Sunmed’s flagship hotel, the Mimosa Beach, in the Summer of 1983 were classic British dog lovers at their best!

Fred was born in a ditch at the Chryssi Akti Hotel in Agassi, Zante. He was a very smart puppy and quickly worked out that Dina, the owner of Mimosa Beach, was a massive dog lover and wouldn’t turn him away if he hung out at her hotel.

He was soon “adopted” by the guests who arranged a reallly cute adoption system for him. You got to know him in your first week, then cared for his needs in your second week. The guests themselves were amazing and stayed in touch with one another and me.

By the end of the season Fred had been sent enough toys and grooming equipment to open a pet shop and enough money raised to cover his quarantine. Sunmed Fred, as he became known, was the first ever stray Greek dog rescued from Zante to be re-homed in the UK.

These really kind people stayed in touch with me and at the end of the season I took Fred on the ferry from Zante to Kyllini then drove with him to Athens where my friend Sharon cared for him until his flight to the UK.

Sadly, as this was the 80s we lost touch with Fred’s new Mum and Dad, June and Barry Baker from Southampton, but I would dearly love to find them again and all the other lovely people who made this first rescue happen.