Jewish Book Week – A visit from David Bolchover

Just before half-term, David Bolchover visited The Urswick School to deliver a talk as part of Jewish Book Week.   30 of our Year 10 pupils were lucky enough to attend and impressed our visitor not only with their insightful and empathetic questions but also with how bright and curious they were.

David told us all about the amazing football coach Bela Guttmann and his amazing climb to success after surviving the traumas of the Holocaust. In fact Bela Guttmann returned to Europe, during the Second World War, to continue his pursuit of creating the best football teams in Europe.

The students were fantastic: extremely welcoming, keenly curious and showed immense maturity. They experienced an extremely insightful book talk that was clearly influential. Students have now been asked to research an area of history that is “unwritten” to explore the stories of the oppressed and those ignored throughout history.

Denzel Dos Reis Futado was rewarded with a copy of David Bolchover’s book ‘The Greatest Comeback: From Genocide To Football Glory’ as Denzel’s own Grandfather played for Benfica (a Portuguese team that Guttmann coached to success). Denzel also asked some insightful questions and showed a great interest in his writing.