The Dairy to host mental health dinner in aid of Pilot Light

Robin Gill's the Dairy in London is hosting a dinner this weekend in aid of Pilot Light to raise funds and awareness of the mental health campaign.

Headed by the Clapham restaurant's chef de partie, Oli Knell, the kitchen will be taken over by a selection of chef de parties from the London restaurant scene, each offering a course of comforting family-style dishes.

The evening will commence at 6.30pm on Sunday 1 December with a welcome drink in the bar and introductions from Knell, Gill and the Pilot Light team to get the conversation going, followed by a four-course menu served family-style.

Pilot Light, founded by chefs Andrew Clarke and Doug Sanham, focuses on changing the way people think and act about mental health through addressing the hospitality-specific context, professional kitchen environment and the broader sector.

Knell said: "I heard that over 80% of people in our industry will at some point suffer from a mental illness. I was part of this statistic and realised that there really isn't much support out there. More so, no one seems to talk about it. To me, it feels like we pretend that it's nothing and we give ourselves a plethora of excuses to not discuss this in our micro-society.

"So, I wanted to reach out to Andrew Clarke and Doug Sanham who founded Pilot Light and find out what we can do to raise money, awareness and really start talking about mental health. This shouldn't be a taboo of a topic. This should be something that we are aware of and support each other through, because it could actually save someone's life."

Tickets (£35) are available by contacting the Dairy at alessandra@the-dairy.co.uk or 020 7622 4165. All ticket proceeds go to Pilot Light.