LOOKING back to the week that was October 14 to October 20, five years ago...

A TOWN centre shop was left with a gaping hole in its back wall after a loader tractor was used to ram-raid the premises, in October 2019.

Shoppers and traders in Bishop Auckland were dumbfounded when they arrived on the high street to discover the Poundland store had been targeted in a late-night raid on Wednesday, October 17, 2019.

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The culprits had used the vehicle to smash through the rear brick wall, which backs onto the A689 Kingsway, just before 11pm.

They are then thought to have made off in a getaway car – leaving the truck and a van at the scene. A spokesman for Durham police said: “Nothing was taken during the incident however the loader and white transit van were left at the scene. It is believed the suspects made off in a blue Ford Focus.”

By early afternoon the loader had been removed from the scene, revealing the full extent of the damage. The majority of the back wall was gone and crushed fixings and trailing cables could be seen from outside.

Millie the missing moggy turned up safe and well – as an “aristocat” living the high life at a five-star hotel, spa and golf complex, in October 2019.

The tabby’s owners were heartbroken when she disappeared soon after they’d moved to a new house in the village of Hurworth Place, near Darlington.

The Warr family feared the worst, but it turned out Millie had become a “VIP guest” at the luxurious Rockliffe Hall less than a mile away and was enjoying being pampered.

“We were worried she might be roughing it, but it turns out she’s enjoying a five-star lifestyle,” said Sasha Warr.

A resident on the Rockliffe estate answered a social media appeal for sightings and brought Millie home but she sloped off back to a life of luxury two days later.

She was brought home again but this time only lasted four hours before returning to Rockliffe. She couldn’t even be coaxed back when Sasha visited Rockliffe with a tin of the finest tuna on her third birthday. “She was always a cat who liked her comforts and she’s clearly enjoying her new lifestyle, so we’ve just had to accept it,” said Sasha.

Millie, who was living amid the warmth of the generator in the Rockliffe grounds, made friends with hotel staff and visitors.

She tried to follow guests in for breakfast, attempted to gate-crash the spa area, and had become a “celebrikitty” on Facebook.

A giant slinky, a piano powered projection, a monumental snow dome and a fog sculpture cascading across the River Wear were some of the highlights of the 2019 Lumiere festival in Durham.

Artists from as far afield as Canada, Japan and New Zealand were helping create installations using familiar landmarks in the historic city as a backdrop.

For the most ambitious edition of Lumiere to date, a selection of favourite artworks from previous festivals, such as a whale in the River Wear, sat alongside a host of new commissions by international artists and fresh talent from the North East.