Owjas
Created | Updated Jan 6, 2012
Bassingbourn is an unassuming village near the town of Royston, Hertfordshire, and is home to one of the British Army's training camps. For years, recruits in the village have been referred to as 'Owjas'. Until now, nobody in the area would say why... maybe because of the shame, maybe because nobody bothered to ask. Now it's time to tell the tale.
To transport the recruits into the area, the army uses the rail network. Thousands of soldiers every year pass through the town of Royston and pass through again on their way home. The memory of their trip to Hertfordshire is hidden in a haze of alcohol so thick that the teenage cannon-fodder can't remember how to get home. They form a queue at the railway station ticket office and ask 'Owja get to Newcastle/Liverpool/the off-licence?' while the civilian population behind them misses their train.
Owjas cheer when their trains arrive. A train arriving close to the time they were told it would is more excitement than an Owja can bear. Nobody knows why. Not even the Owjas.