Privacy Policy

What is this Privacy Policy for?

This privacy policy relates to the activities of the English Folk Dance and Song Society. It sets out how English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS) uses and protects any personal data you provide to us. Whenever you provide us with your personal information, we will treat it in accordance with this policy and in accordance with all laws concerning the protection of personal information including the UK Data Protection Act 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 2016 and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) 2003.

This policy is effective from 25th May 2018, and was last updated on 29 January 2024.

Your Data

When you contact us, you do so at your own discretion.

We do not request personal data unless there is a clear reason for doing do. The data we collect is limited to that which you provide to us.

Your personal information is kept private and is stored securely until it is no longer required.

We store personal data for many different purposes. We have detailed policies on retention periods for each category of data, which specify when and how this data should be destroyed at the end of the relevant period. On deletion, the data is rendered unrecoverable. After the retention period we may keep anonymised data about any purchases or donations you have made, so that it can be used for analysis to better understand engagement with our activities, products and services.

We may occasionally use your data to pursue our legitimate interests in a way which might reasonably be expected as part of running our business activities, and which do not materially impact your rights, freedom or interests. An example might be using your purchase history to make available personalised offers, if we have permission from you for direct marketing.

We occasionally video-record or take photographs at our events. Whenever we do so, we will display notices informing participants about this activity. Photographs where individuals are included ‘incidentally’ are not considered to be personal data. See also our Safeguarding Policy.

If making a purchase or donation, you will be asked to provide relevant data to enable this to happen, such as your card details or a Direct Debit mandate. We do not store credit or debit card details.

If you purchase ticket(s) for an event promoted by a third party at our venue, our Terms and Conditions of purchase state that we may share your details with this third party. These details are to be used by the third party for communications only directly concerning the event, unless you explicitly give permission for additional use.

Right of access: you may request a copy of personal information we hold about you. If you would like to do this, please contact us (details as below). We do not usually charge any fee for this. We will ask you to provide evidence to prove that you are the data subject or are acting with the authority of the data subject. We will respond as soon as is practical, but certainly within the legal maximum of one month.

Right to erasure: if you want to remove your personal data from our records, you can request this by contacting us (details as below). We will remove your data as far as is practical, and where we are not legally obliged to retain it.

Right to correction: if you believe that any information we are holding on you is incorrect or incomplete, please contact us (details as below). We will promptly correct any information found to be incorrect.

Right to complain: if you are unhappy with how we are managing your personal data, please contact us first. We will make every effort to resolve your concerns; but if you are not satisfied you can lodge a complaint with the UK supervisory authority, The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library (VWML) processes personal data for addition to its archives if the data is considered to be in the public interest and/or for historical purposes. This processing is compliant with data protection legislation, and may be exempt from certain data protection principles (as referred to above). Sensitive personal data, or data which may cause distress or damage to an individual, is withheld from public access until access is deemed appropriate. For online digital catalogues and indexes, the VWML operates a take-down policy whereby concerns over the publishing of sensitive personal data may be raised with the Library and Archives Director.

Data Security

We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we have procedures to safeguard and secure all personal data that we hold. Our staff are provided with training in data protection and data handling.      

Additionally, our service providers have their own privacy policies to ensure that they comply with their legal obligations. These include:

• Spektrix (primary database and email distribution). Spektrix Privacy Policy
• Sagepay/Opayo (payments). Opayo Privacy Policy
• Eventbrite (registration for some Education events). Eventbrite Privacy Policy
• Google (surveys and occasionally event registration). Google Privacy Policy
• We have previously also shared data with The Audience Agency (‘Audience Finder’ fully anonymised reporting of audience data, for the mutual benefit of EFDSS and other organisations funded by Arts Council England). Privacy Notice and Fact Sheet

We will inform you in a timely manner if we have reason to believe that the security of your data has been breached.

We will never sell, distribute or lease your personal information to third parties for their own use unless we have your explicit permission, or are required to do so by law.

Users under 16 years of age

If you are under 16, please make sure that you obtain your parent/guardian’s permission before you provide any personal information to EFDSS. Without this consent, you are not allowed to provide us with personal information.

Email Newsletters

You have the option to subscribe to receive email updates from us, on a variety of topics. You can subscribe in person, or through our secure online signup form. We will not contact you unless we have your explicit consent to do so, or where we believe that contacting you is clearly in our mutual legitimate interest. We shall never pass your details on to anyone else without your explicit consent.

Our email marketing campaigns may contain tracking facilities. Subscriber activity is tracked and stored in a database for future analysis and evaluation. Such tracked activity may include: opening of emails, forwarding of emails, following links within the email, times, dates and frequency of activity, etc. This information is used to refine future email campaigns, and supply you with relevant content based on your activity.

You will always be given the opportunity to unsubscribe at any time, via a link in the footer of each email.

Website Cookies

EFDSS manages the websites efdss.org and vwml.org.

We take a proactive approach to user privacy and our policy is to take all reasonable actions to protect the privacy of users to our sites. 

We use cookies to improve your experience when using our websites. Where applicable we warn users about this, and advise users not to continue using the sites if they do not agree to this. 

Cookies are small files that track, save and store information about your interactions with websites. This allows these websites to provide a tailored user experience. If you wish to deny the use and saving of cookies, you should block cookies within your web browser’s security settings.

If you make a purchase or donation through our online Folk Shop or Box Office, a session cookie will be used to remember your login details and what you’ve put in the shopping basket.

We use Google Analytics to improve our understanding about how people use our sites. Google saves a cookie in order to track and monitor your engagement with our websites. You can read Google’s privacy policy at policies.google.com/privacy.

Our websites use video and audio which is hosted by YouTube and Soundcloud. Viewing or listening to these embedded materials may set cookies on your computer.

Third Party cookies may also be set through our website by other companies, to enable them to serve up adverts on other sites that are relevant to your interests. 

External Website Links

Although we aim to include only high-quality, safe and relevant external links, you are advised adopt a policy of caution before visiting any external web links.

We cannot guarantee or verify the contents of any externally linked website despite our best efforts. If you external links you do so at your own risk, and we cannot be held liable for any damages caused. 

Social Media

Communication, engagement and actions taken through external social media platforms are subject to each platform’s terms and conditions, as well as its privacy policies.

We advise that you use social media platforms wisely in regard to your own privacy and personal details. We will never ask for your personal or sensitive information through social media platforms. We encourage users wishing to discuss sensitive details to contact us through primary communication channels such as by telephone or email.

We use social media to broadcast messages and updates about events and news. We may also react to comments or questions which you have made using social media. You may also see adverts from us on social media that are tailored to your interests.

How to contact us

You can email [email protected] or write to us at Cecil Sharp House, 2 Regent’s Park Road, London NW1 7AY.