Today, as ever, we remember the 56 mums and dads, grandmas and granddads, sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters, brothers and sisters, aunties and uncles, nephews and nieces who never returned home from the Bradford City v Lincoln City match of May 11th 1985.

Toward the end of the first half a fire started, believed to have been caused when a lighted match or cigarette stubbed out in a polystyrene cup fell through slats of the wooden old main stand, igniting rubbish which had been piled beneath. Within minutes the whole stand was alight.

Supporters' attempting to leave by emergency exits found they had been locked shut, whilst many escaping onto the pitch struggled to scale a wall at the front of the stand.

56 died and many more were seriously injured.

In that age, the safety of football supporters' was not taken as seriously as it appears to be today.

It is important we keep alive the memory of what happened that day and help ensure that nothing like it ever happens again.

The annual service in memory of those who lost their lives in the Valley Parade fire disaster of May 11th 1985 will be held at 11 o'clock, this Sunday, at the fire memorial in Centenary Square.

The football stadium will be open until 12 o'clock for those wishing to pay their respects or lay wreaths at the Valley Parade memorial.

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Bradford City will be holding a Fans Forum in the Banqueting Suite, Valley Parade, tomorrow night (29th April), and supporters are invited to put questions to Stuart McCall, co-Chairman Mark Lawn and Head of Operations David Baldwin.

The evening is due to kick off at 7.00pm.

City fans will be carrying out the annual Burns Unit collection prior to the Milton Keynes match tomorrow.

These collections are a useful resource for the unit, so please give generously.

The following article was written by BCST director, David Wilson, for inclusion in Bradford City's matchday programme of 19th April for the match against Grimsby Town.

Programmes cost £2.50 and you can buy them at the Surridge Upfront Store or from sellers around the ground.

The Smoking Ban

Can I start by getting this out of the way: you and I as football fans may not be happy with the no-smoking ruling – you just wonder what they will come up with next! The Trust is talking to the Club about making provision for smokers outside the turnstiles at half-time – if most pubs (and now the Rovers Return) can have a smokers’ lean-to, why not football grounds, which have hundreds of times more customers? But meanwhile, could the smokers using the Gents please think twice.

We have had fans writing in to the Trust about the fog in the toilets at home games, and some were smoking in the Gents at Darlington last week. It is unpleasant for the non-smokers, and there is the threat of fines from Health and Safety that would seriously damage any football club at our level. So could we all think about the bigger picture, please, and stifle the craving before lighting up within the ground.

It's almost the end of the season and the last issue of The City Gent went out on sale last Saturday at the Grimsby Town home game. It's a bumper edition with 8 extra pages and because there were only 2 home games available to sell at, it's a shorter print run than usual, so it's bound to sell out quickly.

What copies remain will be available this coming Saturday at the MK Dons game. The usual CG sellers will be in the Bantamspast Museum before kick off and in and around VP. Copies of the new issue, plus back issues can also be bought in the Surridge Shop.

Readers may also be interested to know that prior to the MK Dons game, City Gent duo Mark Neale and Mike Harrison will be in the Bantamspast Museum looking back 20 years to the 'nearly' season of 1987/88.

John Watmough is attempting to contact three former members of City Travel Club'73 (Bradford), who are due a small payout from the proceeds of the club when it was wound-up.

The CTC 73 members from 1995-96 John is hoping to contact are R. Ludlum; B. Pickering and R Sykes

If you can throw any light on their whereabouts please email john.watmough@bl.uk

Members of Bradford City Supporters' Trust have voted overwhelmingly in favour of Joe Colbeck as Young Player of the Year.

BCST board member, Paul Hodgson, presented Joe with the award at last night's Player of the Year awards ceremony, held at Valley Parade.

It was great to see Joe, a local lad, also win the overall Player of the Year award.

BCST's email poll was restricted to younger players with current Bradford City playing contracts.

BCST has received the following press release:

bradfordcitybadges.co.uk in conjunction with The City Gent fanzine and fully endorsed by Bradford City F.C. are going to produce 23 ‘limited edition’ enamel fixture pin badges for next season 2008/2009.

A limited edition badge will be produced to commemorate every home league fixture at Valley Parade and will feature the logos of each club.

City Gent 147, a bumper 76 page edition and the final one of this campaign, will be on sale Saturday (April 19th), priced just £2.

You can buy copies from Gent sellers in and around the ground or from any of these prodigious places:

3 Singh’s Restaurant, Sticker Lane
The Back Page, Newcastle
Corn Dolly, Bolton Road
Surridge Upfront Store
The Junction, Baildon
Shipley Club
Subscription payments can also be made by direct bank transfer. Contact miketallgent@btinternet.com for details.

City fan Manny Dominguez, who is currently campaigning for safe standing areas to be introduced at Valley Parade, will be giving a presentation at the Bantamspast Museum this coming Saturday(19th April).

Manny will be focusing in particular on the German experience, where standing in specially designed areas has been introduced and proven extremely popular.

Sign the petition

The following report was prepared by Lyndsay England, Gay Football Supporters Network / Football Association liaison officer for Bradford City Football Club and the England national team, following a training day at Charlton Athletic on 14th August 2007.

For some 15 years now there has been a ‘kick it out’ campaign dealing with racism among players and supporters of our beautiful game, but there is still very much a feeling of’ Taboo’ about anything ‘gay’ in the game.

The following article was written by BCST chair, Alan Carling, for inclusion in Bradford City's matchday programme of 8th April for the match against Barnet.

Programmes cost £2.50 and you can buy them at the Surridge Upfront Store or from sellers around the ground.

Welcome

Welcome to Barnet, who have established themselves safely in the middle of the League Table. This is where we find ourselves, too, after the late Rochdale goal snuffed out the last realistic hopes of a charge into the play-offs.

The following article was written by BCST member, Jon Spivey, for inclusion in Bradford City's matchday programme of 5th April for the match against Morecambe.

Programmes cost £2.50 and you can buy them at the Surridge Upfront Store or from sellers around the ground.

WELCOME

Firstly, I would like to welcome all the players, officials and supporters of Morecambe FC who have made the relatively short journey over from Lancashire.

MORECAMBE

The evening with Dean Windass, originally scheduled for February but cancelled due to injury, will now be held on St George’s Day, Wednesday April 23rd at 7.30pm.

Though aimed primarily at Hull City supporters, Bradford City fans are very welcome.

Click for details.

The following article was written by BCST director, Phillip Marshall, to be included in Bradford City's matchday programme for the Chesterfield match of Monday 24th March.

Programmes cost £2.50 and you can buy them at the Surridge Upfront Store or from sellers around the ground.

The following article was written by BCST director, Russell Spence, for inclusion in Bradford City's Mansfield Town programme of 15th March.

Programmes cost £2.50 and you can buy them at the Surridge Upfront Store or from sellers around the ground.

Welcome

I'd like to start off by welcoming Mansfield & their fans to Valley Parade for this, their first visit in the Second Division. Whereas City in the last few games have experienced somewhat of a rollercoaster, Mansfield come here looking for three points to get them out of the relegation zone & both teams will be looking for more than the nil nil draw both teams managed at their ground

Rotherham game

City Gent 146, the penultimate of the season, will be on sale this Saturday (March 22nd), priced only £2.

You can get your copy from Gent sellers at the ground or from any of these great places:

Shipley Club
The Junction, Baildon
Surridge Upfront Store
Corn Dolly, Bolton Road
The Back Page, Newcastle
3 Singh’s Restaurant, Sticker Lane
Subscription payments can also be made by direct bank transfer. Contact miketallgent@btinternet.com for details.