Under the streets to Witton Lakes

I well remember the brook. One spur ran from Kings Road, Binstead road, along the back gardens of Hurlingham and Cranbourne road. It then looped under Danesbury Crescent, and along Warren Farm road joining the chamber under Finchley road. One summer holiday we took bike lamps and followed the course to Witton lakes from Cranbourne road. We came up for air at a manhole, in a back garden on Elswick road where an old lady beat us back down the hole with a broom. We finished the adventure at Witton lakes near a life buoy on a post. We thought we had got to the coast. My dad went mad when I told him, raving on about polio and Black fever. He also explained that we would be killed if a storm broke. He made us look at it one evening during a Thunderstorm. The little brook was a raging torrent roaring along up to the gardens about 8 feet deep and filling the tunnels at about 30 mph. A death trap but great fun