Bradford City fire nurse hangs up her uniform for the final time

A nurse who is one of the final remaining staff at her hospital to have cared for people injured in the Bradford City stadium fire is retiring today.

Sylvia Coleman nursed many of the 265 football fans hurt in the fire at Bradford City's Valley Parade ground in May 1985, in which 56 people were killed.

Ms Coleman has worked at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust for 38 years, devoting her career to burns and plastic surgery.

She recalled: 'Many of the patients were traumatised from what they had been through or witnessed, and there was many a tear shed among staff and patients as people relived the horrors of the fire or grieved for a relative they had lost.'

Last year she attended the 30th anniversary commemoration of the tragedy. She added: 'It helped to bring everything full circle for me – being reunited with the patients we cared for.

'The NHS has been my little family for all these years. I will shed a tear when I take off my uniform and leave the hospital for the final time.'

Ms Coleman trained at Bradford School of Nursing at the city's St Luke's Hospital.

She received a hospital award for her services to the trust in 1999.