In conjunction with our privacy policy you should also check out our Terms & Conditions.

About
Unlike the privacy policy on most websites, ours has been painstakingly written out by a human, who has considered what this website does, how you are most likely going to interact with it and what (if any) aspects of it impact on your personal data. Crucially, it's been written so you can A. Understand it and B. It isn't so long and laborious that you might actually bother to read it all! As such, our policy doesn't use lots of fancy legal language and might contain the odd typo. It is also a work in progress; we may update our policy in line with new legislation and as we make any changes to our website.

Overview
We respect your right to privacy and will always do our absolute best to ensure we conform to not just the laws at the time, but also our moral obligation to you. That's why we will never knowingly allow anyone to use your personal data unless legally required to do so, and we will always keep it secure and (where possible) will remove all trace of it at your request.
Normally we only hold names, phone number and email addresses you provide us, but at times we may hold other identifiable data about you, gathered with your consent, to carry out our day to day work with you. For instance, you might supply us with personal data as part of an enquiry, or as a booking for a course, or as entry for a show etc. In all instances this data is destroyed once it is no longer relevant or required, or it will be held securely if it forms part of a service agreement with you or is a legal requirement for us to retain. In which case we may hold data for up to seven years.

Cookies:
Cookies are tiny files that are added to your computer as you use and interact with websites. They are used mostly for good - to improve your experience. Sometimes for bad - search engines, social sites etc may use them to track what a computer is looking at and then target you with adverts.
Our site like most, makes use of cookies. Typically they're used to store site preferences to save you from having to re-enter information on future visits. Also to track your visit to our website we use Google Analytics. This helps us evaluate your use and compile reports for us on website activity. Google stores the information collected by the cookie on servers in the United States. Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google's behalf. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. By using the website, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner and for the purposes set out in their privacy policy.
Google privacy policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy/update?hl=en

If you wish to restrict or block the cookies which are set by our website or any other website, you can do this through your browser settings. The Help function within your browser should tell you how or alternatively go to https://www.aboutcookies.org which contains information on how to do this on a wide variety of browsers.

IP Address
An IP address is a unique number that identifies your computer on the internet. Lots of services, like YouTube, Facebook etc, require that websites send them your IP address before they will allow sites to display things like embedded video, or Facebook elements, and so on. In reality your IP address isn't personal data, as 99% of the time you can't be identified by it, but some consider it does, so to keep ourselves in the clear we've added this bit to our privacy policy:
On occasion your IP address may be shared with some service providers.

Emails
Emails are normally kept until our inbox is full and we have a clear out and delete or archive all the old ones. We never use addresses obtained from emails for anything other than responding to the emails you send us. We don't harvest these emails for other purposes. Once we clear out our inbox and delete old emails from you, your details are gone.

Newsletters
Our newsletter sign-up process is distinct from other areas of consent when it comes to your data. If you are on our mailing list then it is because you have consented to be on it. If you wish to be removed from our newsletter list just click the 'unsubscribe' link in the newsletters we send. You can also update your 'subscription preferences' via a similar link.
We do not share our newsletter lists with anyone else, other than the service we employ to send out our newsletters.

Paper records
If you send us a booking or entry form via good old Royal Mail then these are kept securely until either your course or show has finished, or until our filing cabinet is full and we need the space. We do not share these with anyone other than to carry out our work for you.
Once we have securely disposed of your forms your details are gone.

Contacting us
If you have any questions about our privacy policy and your personal data, or would like to know what data we hold in relation to yourself you can contact us using the details on our regular contact page making the subject of any emails “FAO: Data Protection Officer”. We will then forward your email to the relevant person who will respond accordingly.

For most requests to be processed, we will need you to provide proof as to who you are and that you have a lawful right to access the data. If we suspect any abuses of this requirement, we reserve the right to refuse. In most circumstances, we will respond within 30 days.