LOOKING back to the week that was October 23 to October 29, ten years ago...

North-East couples spoke of their shock and anguish on discovering their dream wedding venue had gone into administration in October 2013.

With only six weeks to go until their big day, Katie Freeman and Dean Cummings from Seaham, County Durham, were devastated at the news that administrators have been called into Whitworth Hall Hotel, near Spennymoor.

Read more: ECHO MEMORIES: The changing face of Northallerton and its market cross - in pictures

On Tuesday, October 22, 2013, joint administrator Andy Haslam, of Begbies Traynor, told The Northern Echo he was confident a buyer could be found for the 29-bedroom Best Western hotel.

But his optimism did little to comfort the bride and groom-to-be who felt they had no choice but to cancel their booking for December 7, 2013.

The couple lost their £750 deposit and were frantically searching for an alternative venue.

A 102-year-old poppy seller was helping to pay tribute to the nation's war dead for a 53rd year, in 2013.

Carmel Connolly, of Spennymoor, County Durham, raised thousands of pounds for the Royal British Legion (RBL) since 1960.

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She was one of the country's oldest and longest-serving poppy sellers.

Mrs Connolly believed she had sold more than a million poppies over the years.

In October 2013, she presented a poppy to the Lord Lieutenant of County Durham, Sue Snowdon.

Mrs Connolly said: "I was taking part in a military parade for Armistice Day, in London, when I saw a woman selling poppies.

"I thought I would like to do that. The RBL's Poppy Appeal is a charity very close to my heart."

A charity fundraiser who ran 40 marathons in 40 days with a 42 kilo fridge strapped to his back learnt he was running with a broken leg, in October 2013.

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Tony Phoenix-Morrison had fractured his femur ten days into his endurance run from John O'Groats to Land's End.

The 49-year-old grandfather, from Hebburn, South Tyneside, who had raised £90,000 for The Sir Bobby Robson Foundation, went for emergency tests following the 2013 Great North Run, days after completing his challenge.

He had woken up the morning after the half-marathon with excruciating pain in his back and leg. Scans showed that he had fractured his femur early on in his endurance challenge, which meant he had run about 30 of the marathons with a broken leg.