ALL the nation's top football clubs will join Bradford City to mark the 30th anniversary of the Valley Parade disaster next year with an ambitious target of raising £300,000 for burns research work, the Telegraph & Argus can reveal today.

Bradford always commemorates the anniversary of the tragedy, which cost 56 lives and left hundreds more with severe burns as a blaze ripped through a wooden stand on May 11, 1985.

But this year a special event will take place in conjunction with the Football League and the Premier League with a minute's silence before all matches on the weekend of April 25 and fundraising work at the soccer grounds to support the plastic surgery and burns research unit at Bradford University.

That was developed as a direct result of the disaster and there has been a close association with the football club and soccer fans, whose fundraising efforts have allowed it to continue with research work and training new generations of plastic surgery specialists, ever since.

Ajay Mahajan, director of Bradford University's Plastic Surgery and Burns Research Unit, told the T&A: "The research unit came on the back of the Bradford fire and subsequently there were generous donations.

"The research is entirely dependent on the generosity of the fans. Without them it would not exist, its as simple as that," he said.

Bradford City Football Club's Supporters' Board has also been involved in the plans and deciding the £300,000 target, which is regarded as challenging but achievable.

"The connection with the burns unit has been intrinsic to what happened in Bradford," said a supporters' board spokesman.

"The burns unit is a lasting memorial to all those who suffered in 1985. It represents both the memorial element and the healing element.

"Knowledge gained through the unit is available to everyone, it is not just Bradford patients who benefit. Most of those who have been research fellows in the burns unit get consultant posts. The effect of the burns unit is national and international, in terms of the skills passed on."

There is a match with Gillingham at Valley Parade on Saturday and there will be a presentation on the pitch during half-time to present money raised for the burns unit.

Fundraising so far has reached £9,000 and is expected to increase significantly as the date grows closer.

Bradford City co-chairman Mark Lawn said: "The money raised will go to the burns unit and keep it going. That is a legacy which has come out of the tragedy, that everybody can be proud of.

"It has been down to the people of Bradford, who have done it until now. It is a stretching target but it would be nice to get there and it would secure the future of the burns unit for a number of years to come, although we will continue to raise money for them."

Through its history, the burns unit has been involved in training 24 specialists who have gone on to become plastic surgeons, with most working in this country but some moving abroad.

There has also been research work which has helped to advance the boundaries of burns treatment and plastic surgery techniques.