NESTLED on the edge of East London, Wanstead has somehow managed to cling onto the rural characteristics of the Essex village it once was, while many surrounding areas have had their original identities swept away by the inexorable tide of urban change.

At first sight, it is the town's higgledy-piggledy assortment of historic buildings and picturesque green which distinguish it from other parts of Redbridge, but to understand what truly sets Wanstead apart you need to look a little deeper.

As Londoners increasingly become strangers to each other, what surprises you most from speaking to people in Wanstead is how many have lived there for most, if not all of their lives.

Barbara Wallis, 89, who has lived in Spratt Hall Road since 1926, believes it is the enduring presence in the area of old' Wanstead families, like her own, which forms the rock upon which a strong sense of community has been built.

She said: "Many families have been in Wanstead for generations, and have put down very deep roots here.

"It is the people who give an area its character, and I think the community here is strong because a lot of people, like me, grew up here, or have lived here for a large part of their lives, and feel a really deep commitment to it."

Mrs Wallis is proud of the contribution her family has made to the history of Wanstead, since her great-grandfather James Clayden first moved to the area to open a grocery business in the 1850s.

She said: "He ran a shop which was located on the corner of the High Street and Woodbine Place where there are two estate offices now."

The family moved into Wisteria Cottage, a large Georgian house connected to the store, part of which is still visible above the shop fronts in Woodbine Place, where Mrs Wallis's grandfather, Walter, was born.

She said: "My grandfather took over the running of the business after his father's death, and had a terribly tough time of it.

"It was hard for him to have to run a shop and look after his family at the same time, particularly after his second wife, my grandmother, died aged just 45."

Disaster struck the family on New Year's Eve 1899 when a fire broke out in the stables attached to the cottage, which housed the shop's two delivery horses, killing one of them.

Mrs Wallis said: "The fire engine in Wanstead Place had been summoned but the horses which were used to pull it had been lent out for a New Year's Eve party and by the time it had been dragged over to the stables it was too late.

"My grandfather didn't have insurance and lost a lot of money, and had to sell the shop soon afterwards."

Undeterred, the family remained in Wanstead, where Mrs Wallis was born in 1917, living first in Dangan Road, before moving to Spratt Hall Road aged 10, from where she has watched the area slowly change over the decades.

Four generations of Mrs Wallis's family, including her own children, attended the Church School in Church Path, where she was a teacher herself during the 1930s and 40s.

She reminisced with amusement about how, at the outbreak of the Second World War, she helped load dozens of her pupils into a double decker bus before travelling with them to safety in the Essex countryside.

She said: "It was a bizarre situation for a 22-year-old to deal with, helping to organise an evacuation, with all the children's mothers asking me to take care of them.

"I wasn't really sure where we were taking them at the time, but we actually had a fun time, travelling through the leafy lanes of Essex. It felt like an adventure."

Mrs Wallis spent much of the War based with her pupils in Saffron Walden, but returned regularly to Wanstead, and has fond memories of the way the community pulled together during the trauma of The Blitz.

She said: "It was strange seeing the area prepared for war, with tape over all of the windows and bomb shelters dug deep into the ground on Christ Church Green, where the play area is now.

"Bombs were falling all over the area, including one in Spratt Hall Road, and a V-1 rocket destroyed a row of houses in Gordon Road.

"Another rocket demolished a house in Wanstead Place, killing the family who lived there, and we adopted their cat, Billy, who managed to survive."

Mrs Wallis remembers the joy she felt when peace was declared, and the street party held by Spratt Hall Road residents in Christ Church Green.

She said: "It was a lovely day with so many of us sitting in the park and enjoying eachothers' company. There were street parties being held all over Wanstead."

Tired of putting up with the inadequate coal fires which were used to heat Christ Church School during the icy winter of 1946, Mrs Wallis left to teach in another school in Leyton.

She said: "It was so cold at the school that year that the ink used to freeze in the ink wells."

She took up her final teaching post at Oakdale Primary School in Oakdale Road, South Woodford, in 1962, where she spent her happiest days of her working life before retiring in 1972.

Unlike many people of her generation, Mrs Wallis, who until recently rode a bicycle each day to her allotment in Eastern Avenue, refuses to criticise the change which has taken place around her.

She said: "I think Wanstead has managed to retain its distinctive character and is still a lovely place to live.

"The main difference is that people don't have as much time for each other as they used to. People seem to live their lives at 100 miles an hour these days."