Guide Me

At last the mystery has been solved. The secret of pigeons "homing" instincts is down to divine intervention!

John Hughes (22 November 1873 – 14 May 1932) was born in Dowlais and brought up in Llanilltud Faerdref (in English: Llantwit Fardre). At age 12 he began work in Glynn Colliery in his home town and subsequently became a clerk at the Great Western Colliery Pontypridd where he worked for over 40 years. He served as a deacon and leader of the congregational singing in Salem Baptist Chapel Llanilltud Faerdref. The first version of the tune, called "Rhondda" was written in 1905 for the Cymanfa Ganu (hymn festival) in Pontypridd, when the enthusiasm of the 1904–1905 Welsh Revival still remained. The present form was developed for the inauguration of the organ at Capel Rhondda, in Hopkinstown in the Rhondda valley, in 1907. Hughes himself played the organ at this performance, using the English translation of William Williams's words because of the large number of English-speaking industrial workers who had immigrated to the area.