By GEMMA BROWN gemma.brown@hexham-courant.co.uk

Last updated 13:36, Thursday, 04 September 2008

THE controversial Tyne Salmon Trail cubes made a splash this week – when they were the centrepiece of a family fun day.

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Main picture: It's all going swimmingly: Story teller Malcolm Green shows 10-year-old James Gordon, from Corbridge how fish really swim.

Held at Hexham’s Tyne Green Country Park, the free event was organised by the Environment Agency, Tynedale Council and the Tyne Rivers Trust in an effort to get the public to interact with the artwork.

For the past six months the 10 cubes have been sited in various rural and urban locations including Kielder, Falstone, Bellingham, Prudhoe, Newcastle, Gateshead, and North and South Tyneside.

But their journey down the Tyne, mimicking the migratory journey of the salmon from their birthplace in Kielder to the North Sea, hasn't been without incident.

In March, Falstone residents voiced their anger at the way in which the artwork had been “dumped” in their village.

In May, the travelling sculpture had reached Ovingham Bridge where it was vandalised twice in four days.

Attempts were made to roll the cubes into the Tyne, and one of the structures was overturned and offensive graffiti sprayed on it.

But this week all that was forgotten as the cubes – now making their return journey up the Tyne – became the focal point for a number of family-friendly activities.

Lined up under Hexham Bridge, the artwork formed the backdrop to bug catching and story telling sessions, nature walks and arts and crafts.

And as each cube is fitted with Bluetooth, visitors could receive messages providing useful snippets of information and images about the salmon and the River Tyne, direct to their mobile phones.

Project officer for the Environment Agency Elizabeth Bunting said: “The fun day was all about celebrating the River Tyne and all of the wonderful things it can offer us.

“The river is a recreational haven for people, a resource for businesses and a home to hundreds of species of wildlife.

“We hope this event has been the springboard for people, young and old, to get to know their river and spark a love affair that will blossom for a lifetime.”

l The Tyne Salmon Trail will remain in Hexham until October 31 before moving back up the Tyne to Kielder Water and Forest Park in the final stages of its journey.