Bradford Telegraph and Argus: Celebrating as the anniversary appeal for the Plastic Surgery and Burns Research Unit (PSBRU) smashes through the £300,000 target are (from left) Ajay Mahajan, Julie Thornton, Alan Carling, Susan Shergill, Jing Qin Tay, Rachael Sedman, and Desmond Tobin

BRADFORD City's fantastic fans have been thanked as an anniversary appeal for the Burns Research Unit smashed through its initial £300,000 target.

The Plastic Surgery and Burns Research Unit (PSBRU) at the University of Bradford was set up after the 1985 fire disaster which killed 56 people and injured more than 250 people.

A 30th anniversary appeal to support the unit was started by the Bradford City FC Supporters' Board in April last year leading to a mammoth fundraising effort.

And Bradford City fans have dug deep over the last year to help the unit.

Money has been raised from more than 250 events, tens of thousands of individual donations and collections in pubs and businesses across the district.

Ajay Mahajan, consultant plastic surgeon and director of research at PSBRU, praised the generosity of the Bantams' fans.

He said: "It's been a great year.

"I'm absolutely delighted to get to our target now. It just goes to show how passionate people are about the unit.

"The Bradford City fans are always supportive of the unit but the club has played a key role in organising fundraising events this year.

"We are still carrying on with the appeal. The unit needs more funds and support.

"Together, we have secured the future of the unit for some more years to come.

"Now that the 30th anniversary has come to a close, I am very pleased to see that we have crossed our set target of £300,000.

"Our unit is very unique in the sense that it was established by the fans, continues to be supported by the fans and is something that the people of Bradford can be very proud of.

"I cannot thank each and every one of them enough for their tremendous support in making this fundraising campaign ours."

The unit, set by Professor David Sharpe and the late Professor Terry Baker, has had 26 research fellows and it hopes to expand after the cash has been secured.

Mr Mahajan added: "We are looking forward to appoint more such research fellows in the near future.

"These doctors will go on to produce valuable scientific work and will evolve into plastic surgeons of the future."

Professor Des Tobin, director of the centre for skin sciences at the University of Bradford, said: "We are truly humbled by the generosity of the city in raising a phenomenal £300,000 during our latest appeal to support our research into wound healing.

"This remarkable contribution represents a lifeline to enable continued technological advances aimed at improving the outcomes for wounded patients.

"The university's centre for skin science and its associated PSBRU remain a most positive and enduring legacy of our city's devastating fire 31 years ago."

An annual collection at the Bantams' last clash of the regular League One season against Chesterfield at Valley Parade last Sunday raised a total of £5,088 with more than £3,500 of this sum raised from the day's bucket collections around the ground.

Alan Carling, chairman of the remembrance panel at Bradford City FC Supporters' Board, said: "I would like to thank everyone whose extraordinary contributions have enabled the appeal to pass the target of £300,000.

"This combined effort has secured the future of the burns unit for years to come as a lasting memorial to all those who suffered on May 11, 1985, and as a fitting testament of hope arising out of tragedy."

Fans across the district and the world have rallied round over the past 12 months to help the appeal.

The cash has come from a variety of sources including the Premier League and Football League, which brought in £25,000 from holding collections at all of its stadiums during one weekend in April last year.

Other fundraising feats included sales of hooded tops, T-shirts, polo shirts and beanie hats designed in memory of the 56 fire victims raised more than £10,000 for the unit.

Pupils at a school in Madrid, Spain, who have learned about the Bradford City fire disaster through their Bantams-supporting teacher, raised money for the appeal in March this year.

The children take part in a non-uniform day and a staff versus pupils football match organised by Thomas Slack, formerly of Eccleshill, who teaches English in the Spanish capital.

A stage documentary, The 56, which paid homage to those who lost their lives in the disaster, has raised £3,257 from more than 100 performances across the UK last year.

The total was further boosted by a £6,000 donation from last year's Bradford City Runs event.

Bradford Telegraph and Argus: Bradford City fan Antoni Preston sold 56 seat backs from Valley Parade's main stand to rise money for the burns unit

Antoni Preston was one of the many Bradford City fans who helped the appeal

Bradford City fan Antoni Preston, of Landsholme Court, Holme Wood, raised £1,439 for the appeal by selling 56 old seat backs he helped remove from Valley Parade.

Fellow supporter Matthew Barker, 34, of High Ash, Wrose, Shipley gave the appeal a timely boost by selling some of the club's old seats fitted with clocks.

Mr Barker raised £540 by selling 110 seat backs which were taken from Bradford City's main stand in February last year.

Both fundraising feats were some of more than 400 seats replaced in the Co-operative Main Stand at the ground ahead of the club's FA Cup quarter-final with Reading.

A group of 20 students sat on all 25,136 seats in only 52 minutes in August last year, bringing in £400 for the appeal.

To continue supporting the unit go to fire-anniversary.brad.ac.uk/donate or justgiving.com/bcfcburnsunitappeal.