Actor David Swift and Jewish Care chairman Stephen Zimmerman were among the 150 guests at the London launch of a history of Polack’s, the Jewish boarding house at Clifton College, Bristol, which closed in 2005.

Dynasty was written by Derek Winterbottom, a tutor of the house, and focuses in particular on four members of the Polack family who were housemasters for 89 of the 127 years of its existence.

Former Board of Deputies president Lionel Kopelowitz was another Polack’s old boy at the reception at Westminster Synagogue, which was co-founded by Albert Polack, the second in the educational dynasty.

Nick Tarsh, chairman of the Polack’s House Educational Trust, said a £2 million fund from the sale of the house had been set up to provide bursaries for Jewish boys and girls at Clifton.

There are around a dozen Jewish pupils at the school, which maintains a synagogue and kosher provision.