A PENSIONER searching for his schoolmates from eighty years ago has spoken of the shocking increase in crime and disorder in the Wanstead and Woodford area.

Ralph Smith, 84, who has lived in the Canadian province of British Colombia for the last thirty years, contacted the Guardian in a bid to discover if any of the boys he attended Churchfields School with in the 1930s are still around today.

Despite leaving England due to poor business prospects under Harold Wilson's leadership, Mr Smith has kept up with the news from the area and reads the paper every week in the Guardian's online e-editions.

He said: “When I went to school at Churchfields the only crime we ever talked about was a murder in 1927 of Ongar police man George Gutteridge.

“He stopped two cars thieves and they shot him through both eyes, but not before he recorded the number plate in his note book.

“They were later caught and hanged.

“Now I read about disturbances at Funky Mojoes [South Woodford High Road], brothels in Wanstead High Street and a man being hit over the head with a baseball bat outside Snaresbrook Station.

“I swear it was safer in wartime.”

Mr Smith, who lived in Lansdown Road, South Woodford, with his parents and six older siblings, said he blames the current situation on the deterioration of discipline in schools.

He said: “Discipline was very prominent at Churchfields and an assault on a cheeky pupil wasn't unusual.

“We were all rather cheered by a boy getting a really good walloping.

“It's a much better way of schooling.”

Mr Smith also commented that it was a shame that Churchfields was being rebuilt instead of revamped, and that he would love to track down his former schoolmates.

He said: “It would be interesting to know what's happened to them as this has been a very active period in history.

“I suppose a reunion would be out of the questions as I imagine many of them have mobility issues like me, but we could email or have a chat on the telephone.”

If you went to school with Ralph Smith, call reporter Crystal Wilde on: 07500 105 941 or email cwilde@london.newsquest.co.uk