The horrific Bradford City fire left its mental and physical scars on those who survived it, and those who lost family and friends that day. It also left an indelible mark on the psyche of the city as a whole.

Out of that disaster was born the Bradford University Plastic Surgery and Burns Research Unit, set up by Professor David Sharpe in response to the fire and how the victims were treated.

Under his stewardship the Burns Unit has, over the intervening years, forged ahead with developing new techniques and treatments for those who suffer burns in a wide variety of incidents and circumstances.

Prof Sharpe has recently retired and handed the baton for continuing research and development over to Ajay Mahajan, who we are confident will carry on the fine work which is done in Bradford and which has helped people across the world.

On the last home football match played by Bradford City this season, Prof Sharpe will return to the scene of the fire that prompted the setting up of the unit in what is sure to be an emotionally-charged event paying testimony to his work with the Burns Unit.

The ceremony will be an appropriate postscript to his remarkable career which turned the horror of the blaze into a positive force.

The Burns Unit and the work of Prof David Sharpe is the true legacy of that terrible day. While continuing to honour the past and the memories of those who died, the work of the unit set up by Prof Sharpe allows people who have suffered awful injuries to look to the future.