LOOKING back to the week October 17 to 23, 2017, when concerns were growing about the new Universal Credit roll-out; and the region remembered the fallen in a festival at Durham Cathedral.

Labour MPs called a House of Commons vote to demand the controversial roll out of Universal Credit is paused on October 17, 2017 – as North-East food banks prepared to respond to a feared increase in demand.

The move came as the Government’s flagship benefit reform, first piloted in Newcastle and Hartlepool, was rolled out in east Durham, one of the country’s most deprived areas.

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Labour was calling on ministers to “pause and fix” the benefit amid rumours that up to 25 Tories may be willing to support them following reports claimants were waiting six weeks for any money and getting into debt.

Prime Minister Theresa May was due to hold talks with the would-be Conservative rebels in an effort to stave off an embarrassing revolt.

Easington’s Labour MP Grahame Morris said: “We are running into Christmas, where people are looking at the choice between heating and eating. We have got to make sure that the Universal Credit system is functioning properly.

“Six benefits rolled into one has far-reaching implications for people who are in work, as well as people on other types of benefits.”

He said there were also fears over the “digital by default” aspect, requiring claimants to keep their application up to date on a daily basis.

A 98-year-old veteran who spent five years as a prisoner of war recalled on how he was twice recaptured after escape bids – and was lucky to eventually return home.

Harry Oliver, a miner at Coxhoe before being called up at the age of 20, spoke at the unveiling of the programme for Durham Cathedral’s 2017 Festival of Remembrance Concert, on October 17.

The Durham Light Infantry veteran was captured months after the outbreak of the Second World War and was moved across Europe to work for his German captors.

“After the initial shock of being captured, the worst part was the lack of food,” he said yesterday. “A lot of people starved to death.”

At the end of the war he faced a 450-mile “death march” through Poland into Germany where he was freed.

Reflecting his VIP concert invite, he added: “At a time like this I think of all the lads who didn’t come home. I’m home. I’ve had a good life. A wonderful life.”

A 93-year-old woman who tended German war graves in a North-East cemetery for more than 60 years was honoured at a moving ceremony on October 18, 2017.

Mary Reid was guest of honour at civic reception, where Sunderland Mayor Councillor Doris MacKnight, invited Colonel Jörg Rütten, the military attaché from the German Embassy in London and German honorary consul to present her with a medal – The Gold Cross of Honour of the German War Graves Commission.

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The pensioner, who served in the Royal Ordnance Corps and was chairwoman of the Castletown section of the Royal British Legion, regularly visited the war graves and memorial in Castletown Cemetery for years.

Among the Allied and Commonwealth war graves there are ten German war graves, containing the remains of ten aircrew and a serviceman from the German navy.

Finally, stars of the comedy world paid tribute to comedian Sean Hughes, who died aged 51 on October 16, 2017.

Comics shared their tributes for the award-winning comedian and former Never Mind The Buzzcocks panellist.

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