"dragged us kids round our neighbours. stopped short of our street in their kindness. although we didn't actually have any friends from school on our street, we'd already done them!! ..."
Of course your parents did that, BroMac...
[Your parents sound like MY parents...]
So I'm going to postulate that your parents didn't work YOUR street, not out of any concern for YOU, but because THEY didn't want to call on the ADULT NEIGHBORS and let THEM know that they [your parents] were part of this weirdo cult!!
That's the sort of hypocritical behavior my parents would have indulged in...
Zid