by Hayley Robinson

It's hoped a giant 'night sun' will return to the sky tomorrow (Wednesday, October 19).

The illuminated helium-filled balloon was due to fly at up to 400ft while tied to a barge in Milton Creek to officially launch the Sleepers Awake project on October 8.

But the event was postponed when the outer skin of the structure was damaged by a freak gust of wind at around 4am on October 6.

It was designed to withstand extreme conditions and had coped well with the previous evening's gusts of up to almost 52mph.

Crew member, John Walters, was on board the boat when it happened.

He said: "I was checking the structure every half an hour and everything was fine when all of a sudden the wind hit. It was a gust from hell, a real body blow."

Project spokesman Simon Steven said the artists and production team were disappointed, but are looking forward to getting the night sun back in the air.

The artwork is designed to draw people to Milton Creek Country Park as part of the Artlands project, which is supported by various organisations including Swale council.

The night sun, which will travel up and down the creek until November 12, will rise higher each successive night and sink beneath the skyline as dawn breaks.

It was created by internationally renowned artists Heather and Ivan Morison's whose work has been exhibited widely in the UK and abroad, including Tate Britain, Barbican and the 52nd Venice Biennale where they represented Wales.