Dinner raises £250,000 for spinal injury charity

Celebrities and hospitality figures raised more than £250,000 last week for the spinal injury charity set up by chef David Nicholls after his son Daniel was left a tetraplegic following a swimming accident in 2003.

A fundraising dinner for the Nicholls Spinal Injury Foundation, held at London's Jumeirah Carlton Tower on Thursday, attracted 250 guests including rugby World Cup hero Will Greenwood and Catey Lifetime Achievement Award winner Richard Shepherd.

They enjoyed a dinner created by four of London's most high-profile chefs, with Marcus Wareing from Pétrus looking after the starter, Mark Edwards of Nobu taking care of the fish course, Le Gavroche's Michel Roux Jnr on main duties and Gary Rhodes of Rhodes W1 in charge of dessert.

The chefs gathered in the kitchen of the Carlton Tower under the watchful eye of its executive chef Simon Young and Nicholls, executive chef and food and beverage director at the nearby Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park. On hand to do television kitchen links was Heston Blumenthal. Guests paid £500 a head and contributed generously to auctions and quizzes to raise money for research into treatment and the care of spinal injury victims.

"The target is to raise £1.5m in two years," said Nicholls. "We've got the world leader in spinal repair here, Professor Geoffrey Raisman, and he's very optimistic that he'll get paralysis beaten in the near future."

Taking time off from plating duties, Wareing said: "I've got two young sons, and every time David talks about Dan I think of my own two. I can never get the thought that they could easily be in Dan's situation out of my head. That's why I'm here."

For more information on Nicholls Spinal Injury Foundation events, call 01933 664437 or go to: www.nichollsfoundation.org.uk.

By Joanna Wood