Westminster, CO Experts in Container Rental, Sales & Customization

By Liz Jackson & Adrian Zorzut

BBC News

Most nursery-age children in Westminster are set to receive a free lunches, under £2m plans.

The proposals were approved by Westminster City Council during a budget meeting on Wednesday.

Under the plans, three and four-year-olds in early years settings offering free entitlements will receive meals.

Some two-year-olds receiving the council's free early education entitlement will also receive help from September.

Additionally, children aged between 11 and 14 who are living in the borough and attending Westminster secondary schools will receive free lunches.

The scheme will be rolled out on a means-assessed basis and is due to run until July 2024, expanding on a free lunch programme for primary pupils that was launched in January.

The authority said the measure was part of a wider multimillion-pound investment to protect residents from the worst effects of the cost-of-living crisis, and could provide lunch to as many as 14,000 children in the borough.

It follows similar schemes by London councils in Newham, Islington, Southwark and Tower Hamlets to offer free school meals to primary or secondary school pupils, alongside a free school meal scheme for primary pupils launched by the mayor of London last month.

'We need equality'

Adam Hug, leader of Westminster City Council, said the aim was to "take some pressure away from families at a time when we know they are already struggling".

"Some parents go without to fill a lunchbox with whatever is left in the cupboard - however meagre - to ensure their child has something to eat at school," he said.

"It cannot be right that children in one of the richest cities on earth are being left to make do with scraps. We need to see equality built into the system for future generations."

Tim Roca, the council's deputy leader and cabinet member for young people, learning and leisure, said the move would pay "dividends in the classroom".

"Eating well supports good eating patterns, ensuring children grow and develop and can concentrate on their learning," he said.

During the budget meeting, councillors also approved a 2% rise in the adult social care precept, and approved the doubling of temporary accommodation funding to £167m with the aim of purchasing 270 homes for the borough over the next three years.

However, Rachael Robathan, the leader of the opposition, accused Labour of double-standards, saying: "In their manifesto, less than a year ago, they were clear that they would freeze council tax until 2024.

"Yet tonight we hear that they are going to raise it by 2% to levy the adult social care precept.

"Their rationale is that this is what we, the Conservatives, did last year - and we did, we raised it by 1%, which they opposed."

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Who: Hosted by the Colorado Brewers Guild (CBG) and presented by On Tap Credit Union, Collaboration Fest is the original collaboration beer festival that showcases the unique and collaborative culture of Colorado’s craft beer scene. At this Colorado Brewers Guild fundraiser, CBG members team up with independent brewers near and far, sometimes spanning multiple states and even continents, to create one-of-a-kind beers that highlight each brewer’s distinct brewing methods and styles.

What: The CBG proudly unveils the festival’s beer collaborations this year which feature 133 unique beers (including an international collaboration) and 175 participating breweries. Tickets for the festival are on sale now and can be purchased online.

Want to learn more about the beers at Collaboration Fest? Each week the CBG will release more information on their stories page about the beers you can try on March 25. Learn about new beer styles, yeast, and science (such as the resurgence of thiolized beer at the fest), hoppy beers, and more.

When: Saturday, March 25 from 2 to 6 p.m. (early entry begins at 2 p.m. and general admission begins at 3 p.m.)

Where: The Westin Westminster (10600 Westminster Blvd, Westminster, CO 80020)

Why: Whether it’s tried-and-true classics like Belgian beer or experimental creations like beers brewed with an oyster mushroom blend, there is a beer for every taste palate at Collaboration Fest. This is the festival where brewers can brew their favorite beers, like lagers and IPAs, or let their imaginations run wild, so be sure to snag your tickets before they sell out!

The Colorado Brewers Guild has a zero-tolerance policy for aggression or harassment of any kind. We are committed to delivering a safe, welcoming, and fun festival experience for all. By attending Collaboration Fest, you agree to their code of conduct.

About Collaboration Fest

Collaboration Fest is the original craft beer collaboration festival that showcases the collaborative nature of the craft beer industry. Established in 2014 to support the Colorado Brewers Guild and their mission to promote, protect and propel Colorado craft beer, Collaboration Fest pairs Colorado Brewers Guild members with breweries near and far to create unique, one-time-only beers for the public to enjoy. This one-of-a-kind festival is a celebration about everything we love about the craft beer industry—community, camaraderie, creativity and craft beer.

About the Colorado Brewers Guild

The Colorado Brewers Guild (CBG) is a nonprofit trade association with the mission to promote, protect, and propel independent craft breweries in the State of Craft Beer through advocacy, community, education, and public awareness. The majority of the state’s 400+ licensed breweries and brewpubs are members.

About On Tap Credit Union

On Tap Credit Union is a full-service cooperative financial institution serving people living and working in Jefferson, Denver, Boulder, and Larimer counties. Founded in 1954, the credit union has $360 million in assets and 20,000 members who are also owners of the organization. The credit union provides personal consultation and financial products including vehicle, mortgage, and home equity loans, credit cards, insurance, savings and investment accounts, and financial guidance, as well as a full suite of business services including a variety of commercial lending products.

For More Information: https://collaborationbeerfest.com/festival-guide/

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Yesterday, on Thursday 9^th March 2023, Brain Tumour Research Funding was debated in the main chamber of the House of Commons.

Before we reflect in this update on what happened, here are the links if you want to watch, or watch again what happened and here you can read the record of the debate on Hansard.

In last week’s update, I asked you to contact your MPs to request they attend the debate. In a demonstration of your astonishing willingness to actively campaign for change I was cc’d into over 500 separate emails from Brain Tumour Research campaigners to their MPs.

An extraordinary effort – thank you all.

The debate was held on a Thursday afternoon – a time when many MPs are heading back to their constituencies, when others are undertaking field trips based on their responsibilities to Select Committees and many other meetings are taking place. We only had the date confirmed a week ago and MPs diaries can be booked up for months ahead.

We were advised that to get an attendance at our debate of 10 MPs would be a success and that 15 would be the absolute top number to hope for. Clearly we aimed for as many as we possibly could and in the end including the minister 15 MPs actually made oral contributions to the debate. What we did to support and populate a lively, emotional and important debate speaks volumes of what we can do when we work together.

Many other MPs who were contacted requested the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Brain Tumours’ (APPGBT) Inquiry Report, launched earlier last week and led by Brain Tumour Research, was sent to them (every MP will get a printed copy next week) and made encouraging comments about writing letters to ministers and being fully supportive even if they couldn’t get to yesterday’s debate.

For some of the Brain Tumour Research team yesterday was such a significant day that we had to be there in person and, as we watched the debate from the public gallery, we felt proud to be a part of what the Chair of the APPGBT, Derek Thomas MP in his opening address said “I affectionately know as the brain tumour family.’

Interest in the debate had been bolstered by our PR and media team who worked night and day to place news of the report and the debate in the media with many of you sharing your stories publicly.

Again, we thank you for making that deeply personal commitment to the cause.

It does get noticed.

I spoke with Siobhain McDonagh MP before the debate and the first thing she said was that she had seen me on Sky News that weekend. Yesterday Ms McDonagh’s speech was riven with emotion as she shared the impact of her sister Margaret’s diagnosis.

I urge you to watch the powerful moment as Siobhain shared her story in the debate.

Other than her very personal story Siobhain noted that “when you read articles such as the one in The Times on Monday, telling us all how successful cancer treatment in the UK is—how 85% of people with a breast cancer diagnosis, 55% of people with a bowel cancer diagnosis, and 98% of people with a prostate cancer diagnosis will get to live for 10 years—do not believe that it is the same for brain cancer. The Times may have chosen a brain as the photograph for the top of the article, but those statistics do not apply.”

That is, of course, true and so we wrote a letter to The Times about this which sadly did not get published however they did cover Siobhan’s contribution to the debate.

On the day of the debate we were pleased to show Derek Thomas his comment in this Express article and we were joined at the debate by Peter Realf and Maria Lester (father and sister to Stephen Realf) and both veteran Brain Tumour Research campaigners.

Maria wrote this piece for the Huffington Post which was posted yesterday and they were mentioned a number of times in the debate.

Also mentioned was Nicki Hopkins. As her MP, Holly Mumby Croft, said in the debate “we are incredibly proud of her in Scunthorpe”. Amani Liaquat too was remembered as her MP, Sarah Owen said “Amani’s story and her parents’ determination to honour her legacy cannot fail to move us.”

There were vital contributions to the debate by John McDonnell, who became involved through the tenacious and dogged campaigning of the powerful force known as Sonya Keen and Hilary Benn spoke saying his involvement also came from a constituent contacting him – that was Rory Burke.

As mentioned previously I urge you all to look at and read what happened yesterday but to pick out a couple of points.

There was fulsome praise for the APPG from John McDonnell.

“We have hundreds of APPGs but that is possibly one of the most effective. As a result of its diligent commitment, we have in front of us an extremely professional report that the Government now can use as the guide and agenda for their work. I thank the APPG for all that it has done.”

He also made this pointed contribution

“I do not want to be here in a year’s time for another debate like this, and another report from the APPG, and to hear that it is still happening because the current report has not been implemented in full. I urge the Government to meet the APPG, establish a champion and start work on this agenda in the next couple of weeks. If they do so, we may be able to turn this around, and perhaps prevent more tragedies such as those that many of our constituents have experienced in recent years.”

In a piece of speech that could have come directly from the APPGBT report Liz Kendall MP who was there in her role as Shadow Health Minister, said: “We also must look at the issue, which many hon. Members have spoken about, of research funding getting stuck in lots of different silos. The Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology must work together much more closely to ensure that early-stage research quickly progresses to clinical trials, and then to the bedsides of patients via new treatments“.

Health Minister Will Quince followed Ms Kendall and said “The report makes a number of recommendations for actions by research funding agencies, such as the MRC and NIHR, on co-ordinating action and making funding available. Crucially, the report is clear that to make advances in brain tumour research we must bring together diverse disciplines. There are detailed recommendations here, with potentially far-reaching consequences, and the MRC, NIHR and I will consider responses and come back to colleagues“.

This must be a two-way conversation though with ministers considering responses and recommendations from campaigners and political stakeholders, such as all of us, and taking them back to the civil servants and Government appointed funding bodies.

Mr Quince ended on an optimistic note saying:

“To be clear, the £40 million announcement was a signal to the research community that we are serious about funding research in this space. It is not a ceiling. If we can spend more on the best quality science, let me assure the House that we will do so. I understand and share the frustrations that only a proportion of the £40 million on brain tumour research has been allocated so far, but this funding will remain available. I genuinely believe that the funding for brain tumour research is promising and we look forward to considering the all-party group recommendations with colleagues across Government. I am confident that the Government’s continued commitment to funding will help us make progress towards effective treatment”

We trust that further meetings with Mr Quince will instil that confidence in us.

Derek Thomas concluded the debate saying: “The Minister has heard those contributions, and he has the report and each of the recommendations. I am encouraged that the discussion does not end here and that the work will continue. It must, because far too many lives depend on it.”

The final word of the debate in this update goes to Greg Smith MP who said: “I would like to pay tribute to one of the most inspirational campaigners and fighters on this cause, my constituent Sue Farrington Smith, who is the chief executive of Brain Tumour Research … Sue and everyone at Brain Tumour Research are true heroes, making a daily difference. They deserve to be recognised and credited for all they do.”

We think that our campaigners are true heroes and once again we salute the 500 of you who sent emails and all of you on the ever growing campaigning database.

On our pathway to a cure yesterday was a significant day, a memorable day, but our campaigning doesn’t end there, it begins anew in the post brain tumour report, post brain tumour debate era – there will be more significant and memorable days because we are walking this pathway together and together, we will get closer to a cure.

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If you punch in “outage map” in a search engine, you will get a series of maps, ranging from the entire country to state by state and even smaller jurisdictions. These maps show electrical outages across the United States and territories, and they are within 10 minutes of actual time. The data come from the electrical utilities.

The maps are enlightening. At this writing, there are some areas in the dark in Michigan and California. More outages appear on the maps as severe weather sweeps across the country.

Today’s outages are all weather-caused. But in just a few years, they will reflect something else, something more ominous: shortages in the available amount of electricity. They will occur when demand begins to outstrip supply, as it frequently does in some developing countries.

The nation is in the grips of two great transitions: a transition from fossil-based generation (coal, natural gas and some oil) to renewables (primarily wind and solar) and a transition to electricity, especially in transportation with electric vehicles.

We are in a rush to electrify to reduce carbon emissions.

There are an astounding 3,000 utilities, ranging from very small public and rural electric cooperatives to very large, investor-owned firms like the Southern Co. and Exelon.

These make up the electric supply system, which has been described as the world’s largest engine. They all work together with surprising unity and are variously connected to the three electric grids, the Eastern Grid, the Western Grid and ERCOT, the free-standing Texas grid.

Their challenge isn’t only where will the power come from but also whether there will be enough transmission to move it to where it is needed?

Duane Highley, CEO of Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, an electric cooperative in Westminster, Colorado, told me that adding two electric cars to a family home can raise electric consumption by as much as 40%.

After Texas was felled by Winter Storm Uri in February 2021, many electric customers are turning to generators and rooftop solar to protect themselves, said David Naylor, president of Rayburn Country Electric Cooperative in Rockwall, Texas.

Faced with a growth rate that has been as high as 8% and 9% in recent years, Naylor is vigorously pursuing distributed generation.

In the electric utility industry, distributed generation is spoken of as “the first step in the virtual power plant.” In Connecticut, two pilot projects — promoted by SmartPower, a nonprofit green energy concern, where a utility, Eversource, and Connecticut Green Bank — are helping customers install solar power and a substantial battery. In return, the utility acquires the right to draw down from that battery on certain days at times of high demand.

All of this will help, but it doesn’t overcome the fact that between now and 2050, a target year for carbon reduction, electricity demand will double in the nation, according to many experts, and there is no way that demand can be met on the present generation and transmission trajectory.

The biggest frustration in the industry isn’t siting new wind farms and solar plants but building new transmission to move electricity from the resource-rich areas where, as Tri-State’s Highley says, “the wind blows and the sun shines,” such as the Western states, to where it is needed.

With money pouring out of the Department of Energy for projects, the problem isn’t money but selfishness — selfishness as in “not in my backyard.” No one wants power lines, just the power. And everyone wants more of it.

The fact is that if the nation continues to electrify at the present rate, shortages could begin at the end of the decade and worsen as the century rolls on.

Those outage maps might become must-watching — until the power for our computers fails, and your region gets color-coded on the outage map you can’t see.

Llewellyn King is the executive producer and host of “White House Chronicle” on PBS. He wrote this for InsideSources.com.

DENVER, Colo.— 175 craft breweries, and more than 120 collaboration beers, will be showcased at Collaboration Fest. Hosted by the Colorado Brewers Guild (CBG) and presented by On Tap Credit Union, this original collaborative craft beer festival pairs CBG member breweries with craft breweries both near and far. This year Collaboration Fest welcomes more than 20 out-of-state brewers to the festival and two international collaborations.

Collaboration Fest, which is celebrating its eighth year, will be held at The Westin Westminster (10600 Westminster Blvd, Westminster, CO 80020) on Saturday, March 25 from 2 to 6 p.m. with early entry beginning at 2 p.m. and general admission beginning at 3 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online.

“Not only are members of the State of Craft Beer teaming up with one another, I’m delighted to see non-Colorado breweries such as Beachwood Brewing and Monday Night Brewing on the roster, as well as Cyprez Tap Room out of Mexico..” says Shawnee Adelson, CBG executive director. “This proves that Collaboration Fest is a world-class beer event that brings both breweries near and far.”

The CBG welcomes the following breweries to Collaboration Fest 2023. Please note that the information below is subject to change. Participating breweries may be continuously added to the Collaboration Fest Festival Guide. Check back to get the latest information.

Be sure to bookmark the Guild’s Festival Guide for the final list.

The Colorado Brewers Guild has a zero-tolerance policy for aggression or harassment of any kind. We are committed to delivering a safe, welcoming, and fun festival experience for all. By attending Collaboration Fest, you agree to their code of conduct.

About Collaboration Fest

Collaboration Fest is the original craft beer collaboration festival that showcases the collaborative nature of the craft beer industry. Established in 2014 to support the Colorado Brewers Guild and their mission to promote, protect and propel Colorado craft beer, Collaboration Fest pairs Colorado Brewers Guild members with breweries near and far to create unique, one-time-only beers for the public to enjoy. This one-of-a-kind festival is a celebration about everything we love about the craft beer industry—community, camaraderie, creativity and craft beer.

About the Colorado Brewers Guild

The Colorado Brewers Guild (CBG) is a nonprofit trade association with the mission to promote, protect, and propel independent craft breweries in the State of Craft Beer through advocacy, community, education, and public awareness. The majority of the state’s 400+ licensed breweries and brewpubs are members.

About On Tap Credit Union

On Tap Credit Union is a full-service cooperative financial institution serving people living and working in Jefferson, Denver, Boulder, and Larimer counties. Founded in 1954, the credit union has $360 million in assets and 20,000 members who are also owners of the organization. The credit union provides personal consultation and financial products including vehicle, mortgage, and home equity loans, credit cards, insurance, savings and investment accounts, and financial guidance, as well as a full suite of business services including a variety of commercial lending products.

For More Information: https://collaborationbeerfest.com/festival-guide/

Like what you’re reading?

When you become an Insider, you become a part of our community of beer and beverage alcohol professionals who work together to move the industry forward. You gain full access to a trusted independent news source that will keep you up to date in an industry that changes by the minute – from the latest stories, trends, acquisitions, and distribution updates, to the latest products. Brewbound.com covers everything you need to know about beer, beyond beer, and beyond the horizon.

Featured Insider benefits include: