TWO pensioners who last saw each other when they were schoolboys during World War Two have been reunited after 68 years, after one of the pair’s story was printed in the Guardian.

Former South Woodford residents Michael Wetton, 76, and Peter Clarke, 74, have not seen each other since the autumn of 1940, when they were living together as evacuees with an elderly couple in the small Worcestershire village of Ockeridge.

But following an article in the Guardian about Mr Wetton’s wartime experiences, relatives of Mr Clarke suddenly realised he was the same person that was great friends with their Peter all those years ago.

“I was amazed when my brother phoned me up and told me,” said Mr Clarke, who now lives in Stockton-on-Tees near Newcastle.

“It really is quite incredible. I moved away from London about 25 years ago and I never really expected to see him again.

“My brother put two and two together - the circumstances were too much of a coincidence.”

Mr Wetton, who now lives in Chingford, said: “It was quite exciting to speak to him again.

"We were very young when we were living together, I was seven and he was five. I was very pleased to hear from him after such a long time.”

The pair, who attended Cowslip Road school in South Woodford, were originally sent off to Maldon in Essex at the outbreak of war in September 1939 along with thousands of other youngsters.

But they were only put together in Worcestershire in 1940 amid fears that the Nazis were about to invade.

However they were not together for long.

“One day we accidentally set fire to a haystack when we were playing around with some matches,” recalled Mr Clarke.

“They were furious. We got a good thrashing for it and a policeman even came round to tell us off.

"After that I don’t think the couple wanted us anymore so we went off to new homes.”

They never saw each other again.

So far the pair have only spoken on the phone, but Mr Clarke does hope to one day come down to London to visit Mr Wetton.

Mr Wetton’s book of his experiences, Reared in a Stranger’s Nest, is currently on sale in bookshops across the local area, priced at £5.

All profit raised from sales of the book are being divided equally between the Fabric Fund of St. Laurence Church and the Fabric Fund of the Chapel of St. John the Baptist, which are both in Worcestershire.