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Introducing the Lund Fund

A campaign to raise £1 million for disadvantaged young people, by building on a special gift-in-Will from David Lund.

Help us raise £100k by the end of 2023. 

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A night of comedy and jazz in the West End’s Criterion Theatre to raise funds for Eastside’s Lund Fund.

The Amazing Story of David Lund

Who was David Lund?

David Lund was an outstanding English teacher at University College School between 1967 and 1996. He was passionate about teaching, literature, jazz music, and creativity in all its forms. David left a huge mark on every student he taught, as well as on the wider community. Through his commitment to nurturing every student, David guided thousands of young people through their English language and literature studies. In spite of a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease in 1985, David became head of the English department and established an ethos of joyful learning before retiring in 1996. David passed away in 2010. He was survived by his brother Peter, who also passed later the same year. The Lund Family generously bequeathed the residue of their estate to charities whose mission was to support the creative development of young people.

This is where Eastside comes in…

Eastside’s CEO/Artistic Director, Matt Lane, is a former Head boy (1988) of UCS. Matt immediately recognised the Lund family name when he received a letter and cheque for £10,000 in 2018 at the Eastside offices, and contacted the solicitors to confirm the connection with his old school. 

Having discussed with friends, family and Old Gowers, Matt decided that the best way to honour his former English teacher’s memory and his family’s wonderful generosity would be to establish the Lund Fund in order to build a long-lasting legacy brought to life by a programmes of creative learning opportunities reaching the most underserved schools across London and beyond for the long term future. 

The Lund Fund has already enabled thousands of young people to take part in spoken word poetry projects such as ‘I know I wish I willfor Eastside’s 25th anniversary, as well as allowing us to unlock three years of funding for our SPOKEN WORD POWER programme from Arts Council England and John Lyon’s Charity.

The Lund Fund aims to reach thousands more young people, year after year, with life changing creative learning experiences at a time when funding for the arts and culture in mainstream education is seriously reduced. This fund will ensure that the Lund family’s posthumous gift is sustained and developed in perpetuity.

Matt writes:

“…Returning to UCS to meet with Mark and the team was a joy. Walking around the building on a guided tour with Head Girl Mayi and monitor Sam reminded me of just how special a place UCS is and how fortunate I was to receive such a creative and nurturing education. David Lund was a major influence on me and although I studied medicine at University and went on to practise as a Doctor, it was a love of the arts and music that has defined my career prompting me to change path and pursue acting, then directing through to running major cultural programmes for the Royal Opera House and now leading Eastside. The contribution and influence David Lund made is very clear to me. His love of art and culture was evident alongside his incredible Thursday night Jazz concerts where I got to hear the likes of Ronnie Scott and Courtney Pine amongst many others play at the aptly named Lund Theatre as well as being treated to all sorts of other events including Fry and Laurie’s stand up shows, the Cambridge Footlights revues and many other memorable events. I came to realise pretty quickly that schools like UCS are the exception rather than the rule. For most young people growing up in this nation, there aren’t weekly concerts, there aren’t the chances to visit the theatre let alone put on your own play. The Lund Fund will help change this, through providing amazing opportunities for those young people who need it most…”

A Life Well Lived

Discover more about David Lund’s extraordinary life, and the impact he made on those around him. 

More than a teacher

As this selection of photographs shows, alongside his English teaching, and his achievements as University College School’s jazz and comedy impresario, David Lund also brought distinguished visiting speakers to the school – including Harold Wilson and Glenda Jackson – and devoted a great deal of energy to the charitable activities that UCS called Voluntary Service.

David Lund always encouraged pupils to help raise funds for the local community and would don shorts and trainers for the annual charity fun run.

Love for music

Look through these photographs of jazz musicians in full swing, and you might imagine they came from the performance archive of a celebrated Soho venue such as Ronnie Scott’s or Pizza Express, Dean Street – not an independent school in Hampstead. 

But, as an accomplished jazz pianist, David Lund’s standing with British and American performers enabled him to bring Adelaide Hall, Humphrey Lyttelton, Annie Ross and Benny Waters, amongst many other celebrated artists, to perform at University College School’s 250-seat theatre.

From 1974 to 1999, their Thursday evening concerts delighted audiences drawn from the UCS community and the general public, and gave invaluable technical experience to the UCS pupils who made up the control box crew.

As David modestly told local newspaper The Hampstead & Highgate Express in 1981: “I suppose I have just been lucky in having some contacts in the jazz world because it has enabled us… to get the public coming in and, also, I really want to expose the boys here to some very good music. It’s wonderful to see how they react the first time they hear it.

“The concerts also teach the boys how to mount a show. They do the lighting and the sound, and we have got a very professional standard now.”

We need your help!

Every donation we receive, large or small, helps to fund the important work we do, and allows us to expand our reach and help even more young people.

Working towards a future in which all young people’s creativity is nurtured and celebrated