Burns Unit Appeal target smashed - by £40,000 (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Generous T&A readers help Bradford appeal to raise £140,000

9:39am Monday 6th September 2010 in News By Jim Greenhalf

Bradford City’s £100,000 Burns Unit Appeal launched last August by co-chairman Mark Lawn and the then-manager Stuart McCall has been smashed.

To date, more than £140,000, raised from a variety of fund-raising schemes has either been passed on by the club and banked by the Burns Unit or is in the pipeline.

David Baldwin, the club’s operations director put in charge of the fundraising, said: “I have passed on a cheque for £93,600 to the Burns Unit. We expect to get £25,000 from West Yorkshire Co-op at the end of October, and West Yorkshire Fire Brigade has raised more than £20,000.

“The chairman is extremely happy that we have far exceeded what we expected to do. It’s been a very long, hard year, but the fruits of all the labour are there for all to see.

“I would like to add my personal thanks to everyone who has contributed, whether it’s £1 or £25,000 – every penny counts.”

The final total won’t be known until November, with major fundraising expected from Bradford Rotary and JCT600.

Fifty-six people died and 200 or more were injured, some from burns to the scalp, face and hands, as a result of the Bradford City fire on May 11, 1985.

Many of the injured were treated by plastic surgeons called in by Professor David Sharpe, who founded the Burns Unit, now based at Bradford University’s Centre for Skin Science.

He said: “I am amazed and thrilled that we have got it. Last week I got a cheque for £22,000 from the fire brigade and another for £300 from a charity cricket match organised at Undercliffe.

“The money helps guarantee the future of the Burns Unit.”

Over the past year or two, in spite of the recession, the people of Bradford have raised more than £250,000, including £105,000 for the T&A Have a Heart Appeal for heart monitoring equipment for BRI.