AN Ellesmere Port musician who started busking and performing gigs to support two animal rescue charities has raised a whopping £10,000.

Singer and guitarist John Walliss was inspired to raise money for Ark Angels in Saltney, as well as South Wales-based Many Tears, following the death of a dog who had endured a tough life prior to being rescued.

He explains: "I started raising money for the rescues as I knew about their work through a Westie walk group that I attend.

"At one of these walks I met one of the dogs that had been rescued, a little Westie called Flo.

"Even though she had had an incredibly hard life as a breeding dog, she really seemed to enjoy being around the other dogs and I was incredibly moved by her spirit.

"Despite veterinary care she died shortly afterwards and that was what gave me the impetus to go out busking and then begin gigging to raise money for the two rescues."

John, who performs uptempo acoustic music from the 1960s to the present day, has previously played in bands but fell out of love with performing and stopped for a few years.

In 2018 he began to get back into live music through open mic nights, culminating in him joining a friend who was a busker and the start of his fundraising journey.

Before the Covid-19 lockdowns, John was playing across North Wales, Shropshire, Merseyside and Cheshire with a a regular slot at Chester Market's Foodie Fridays event.

He said: "I used to play in bands but quit as it was no longer any fun. I quit playing music for a couple of years but then decided to play at open mics and from that I got the desire to play live again solo.

"In the summer of 2018, I was invited by a friend to go busking with them and donated what I made and then it grew from there. So it was a bringing together of the two – the desire to play live again and to do something worthwhile with the money.

"I reasoned that if I could play live with any degree of regularity, I would be able to earn more for the rescues than, say, doing the odd sponsored walk or similar.

"The money raised provides the main purpose for why I do it. I love playing music, but ultimately the motivation is to help the rescues.

"I am currently playing mainly on the Wirral at the moment but I'm hoping to start playing further afield again once things return to some form of normality."