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About 1944 or 5,when I was 9 or 10,and my brother David was 7 or 8,we lived in Hampton-on-Thames near Bushy Park.

Near the Lion Gate entrance was and still is, a large ornamental pond, about a hundred yards in diameter, with a large statue of Diana, goddess of hunting,in the middle.

There was a large American camp in the park, and as this was a target for German Bombers, the authorities prudently camouflaged the fountain by stretching canvas and netting over the goddess’ head as far as the perimeters. This left a fairly large space underneath.

One day in the school holidays, we decided to walk around the fountain, which looked like a very large squat circus tent. I noticed that there was a little gap under the canvas. We crawled through into a very warm airless space over very smelly weed-covered water, and looked around. We could see the dim outline of the statue, which was covered in a large tarpaulin. Then we spotted a small boat with oars, which had been pulled up onto the paved area which circled the pond. It did not take long to push it into the water. So we spent the next hour cheerfully rowing around the pond.

Nobody disturbed us. We put the boat back, crawled out and went home. But we returned several times, and no-one else ever knew.

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