London's top chefs cook up feast for wounded troops

Paul Gayler

A host of Michelin starred chefs will be cooking up a five course feast at London's Guildhall next month to raise money for troops wounded in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Chefs for Heroes gala dinner is being hosted by The Lanesborough's chef de patron, Paul Gayler, and dished up by an army of chefs from the UK's top restaurants including Andrew Bennett, Gary Klaner, Martyn Nail, Paul Bates, Simon Young, Matthew Marshall and Matthew Locker.

Tickets for the dinner, which will be taking place on 2 October, cost £500 and can be booked at www.chefsforheroes.org

The team will be supported on the night by a host of the nations celebrity chefs including Ainsley Harriett, Antonio Carluccio, Aldo Zilli, Brian Turner, Anton Mossimann, Cyrus Todiwala, Atul Kochhar and Tristan Welch.

Gayler's team aims to raise £250,000 for Help for Heroes, a charity Gayler felt compelled to help after his son Lee was shot in the leg whilst serving with the Territorial Army in Afghanistan.

He said: "The situation in Afghanistan is forever in our minds with casualties reported almost daily in the news. Hospitals such as Headley Court are having to deal with increasing numbers of injured servicemen returning home in need of their care. As a father of a wounded soldier, I will be forever grateful for the brilliant care Lee received at the hands of the Headley Court team."

Over the next year, the charity's aim is to raise £20m to provide seven "Hero Recovery Centres" at garrison towns across the UK. These Recovery Centres will provide a home for the wounded and a much needed breathing space while they re-skill and prepare for the next phase of their lives, be that in the military or on and out into a civilian future.

Words: Maria Bracken

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