Penny Black’s Social Diary: Boshers’ boxes; Duck & Waffle’s dish

Boxes of kindness

Reading about Boshers team in Bideford packing chemotherapy care packages as part of their support for ChemoHero, a North Devon charity that provides “boxes of kindness” to people starting chemotherapy treatment, truly warmed my heart.

Each box contains more than 40 items worth more than £150 – a mix of practical necessities and small luxuries designed to make treatment days slightly less daunting. 

What strikes me most is founder Lisa, who was a breast cancer patient but has now sadly passed away, started this in her front room, funding the first boxes through a Christmas market and delivering them personally after her personal experience with chemotherapy.

Penny’s Lunch Box

Duck & Waffle, which lives on the 40th floor of 110 Bishopsgate, hosted Insurance Post’s recent roundtable on how AI-powered claims intelligence can be used to optimise return-to-work journeys, sponsored by Evolution IQ.

The signature dish of the same name as the establishment lives up to its billing: a crispy confit duck leg with a fried duck egg and mustard maple syrup, served on a waffle. It’s the kind of combination that sounds slightly mad on paper but makes perfect sense the moment you taste it. 

The views aren’t bad either, though I spent most of the meal trying not to think about how high up we were. Five stars, and worth the slight vertigo.