If you want to download this Privacy Notice as a PDF, you can do so by clicking on the Download button at the bottom of this page.
What is the purpose of this document?
This document is to explain how the GSWG uses and protects members’ personal data.
Who is the document for?
This document should be available to all members, and to potential new members before they join.
What personal data does the GSWG collect from members?
When people apply to become members, the GSWG asks them for their name, an email address, their phone number(s), and their postal address.
Why does the GSWG ask for this data?
The GSWG uses email as the main way of informing members about the group’s activities, so an email address is needed for this.
A phone number is needed in case it is necessary to contact a member urgently, or in an emergency.
Some members choose to receive information about the group’s activities by post, so for those members, a postal address is needed for this purpose.
However, all members (regardless of how they choose to receive information) are asked for their postal address. This is so that, in the unlikely event of a member being involved in an accident or other emergency during a GSWG activity, it is possible for the emergency services to contact members of their household. Also, the GSWG has liability insurance, and in the event of a claim involving a member, their address may be needed to verify their identity.
What other data does the GSWG hold about members?
The GSWG also keeps records relating to membership status, for example: the date a member joined, whether they have chosen to receive information by post or email, when their membership is due to expire, whether they have paid the membership fee, and whether they are currently a committee member and/or walk leader.
How is this data held?
Members’ data is held on a password-protected Excel spreadsheet.
Who maintains this data?
The spreadsheet is maintained by the Membership Secretary.
Who has access to this data?
Normally only three people have access to the spreadsheet, and know the password, namely the Membership Secretary, the Secretary, and one other committee member. Everyone who has access is aware of their responsibility to keep members’ data secure and confidential.
Is members’ personal data ever passed on to third parties outside the GSWG?
In normal circumstances the names of members and their other data is never passed on to third parties. However there are two exceptional circumstances in which this could happen:
- If the GSWG is required to do so by law or Government regulations. For example, during a pandemic the GSWG may be required to pass on to the NHS contact details of members who have been in contact with someone who has developed symptoms or tested positive.
- In the unlikely event of a member being involved in an accident or other emergency during a GSWG activity, it may be necessary to provide a member’s name and contact details, including their postal address, to the emergency services so that members of their household can be contacted.
Is members’ personal data ever passed on to other members of the group?
Members’ contact details are never passed on to other members of the group without the permission of the member concerned. When an email is sent to more than one member at the same time, members’ email addresses are always ‘blind copied’ so they are not visible to other members.
What happens to members’ data when they stop being members?
When someone stops being a member of the GSWG, their email address, phone number(s) and postal address are deleted from the GSWG’s records within 30 days of the date their membership stopped.
Their name (without any contact details), and the dates they became a member and stopped being a member, may be retained by the GSWG for a longer period.
How can a member find out what data the GSWG holds about them?
They can send an email to gswg@hotmail.com with their request. The same email address can be used for any other queries about the GSWG’s use of members’ data.
How can a member ask for incorrect data to be corrected?
By sending an email to gswg@hotmail.com
Click on this button to download the Privacy Notice as a PDF:
Gay Sunday Walking Group 