CWM RHONDDA: WALES’ SECOND GREAT ANTHEM

“Bread of heaven! Bread of heaven!” – this is a chorus that can raise your passions in a mighty gothic cathedral or a packed rugby stadium the world over.

The hymn tune “Cwm Rhondda” is one of the most glorious Welsh melodies of all time. John Hughes wrote the first version of the tune, which he called “Rhondda”, for a cymanfa ganu in Pontypridd in 1907, when the enthusiasm of the Welsh Revival still remained.

During the last century this glorious melody with its inspiring chorus has lifted the soul in both sacred and secular settings. Learn how it gave hope to those British soldiers fighting in the trenches of World War I and how the royal family embraced it in funerals and weddings alike.

Today is remains a global legacy to John Hughes. His masterful composition is loved and cherished in the settings of a religious ceremony on performed by tens of thousands of fervent Welsh rugby fans blasting from the terraces.

£3.99 (Dean Powell Publishing)