Whitby Hot Chocolate Festival Privacy Notice

This privacy notice tells you what to expect us to do with your personal information.

• Contact details

• What information we collect, use, and why

• Lawful bases and data protection rights

• Where we get personal information from

• How long we keep information

• How to complain

Contact details

Email: wdpchocfest1@outlook.com

What information we collect, use, and why

We collect or use the following personal information to a) answer queries from the public b) create a Festival map and directory of businesses c) to organise Festival events 

• Names and contact details (may include email, telephone, postal addresses, social media contact details) of business owners and people making enquiries and people who engage with our social media

• Names and other identifying information of other people appearing on the website

• Photographs of people appearing on the website

Website Cookies & Analytics

The website www.whitbychocfest.org.uk uses cookies: small text files stored on your device when you visit. These cookies are placed by Webador and are strictly technical cookies that are necessary for the website to function. Webador sets up Google Analytics to hide visitors’ IP addresses. They also don’t allow Google to use the data for other services. This means the data can’t be used to identify individual visitors.

You are asked to give consent the first time you visit the site.  You can delete all cookies placed by Webador via your browser settings. You can see which cookies Webador uses on their website. 

Lawful bases and data protection rights

Under UK data protection law, we must have a “lawful basis” for collecting and using your personal information. There is a list of possible lawful bases in the UK GDPR. You can find out more about lawful bases on the ICO’s website.

Which lawful basis we rely on may affect your data protection rights which are set out in brief below. You can find out more about your data protection rights and the exemptions which may apply on the ICO’s website:

• Your right of access - You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information. You can request other information such as details about where we get personal information from and who we share personal information with. There are some exemptions which means you may not receive all the information you ask for. Read more about the right of access.

• Your right to rectification - You have the right to ask us to correct or delete personal information you think is inaccurate or incomplete. Read more about the right to rectification.

• Your right to erasure - You have the right to ask us to delete your personal information. Read more about the right to erasure.

• Your right to restriction of processing - You have the right to ask us to limit how we can use your personal information. Read more about the right to restriction of processing.

• Your right to object to processing - You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data. Read more about the right to object to processing.

• Your right to data portability - You have the right to ask that we transfer the personal information you gave us to another organisation, or to you. Read more about the right to data portability.

• Your right to withdraw consent – When we use consent as our lawful basis you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. Read more about the right to withdraw consent.

If you make a request, we must respond to you without undue delay and in any event within one month.

To make a data protection rights request, please contact us using the contact details at the top of this privacy notice.

 

Our lawful bases for the collection and use of your data

Our lawful bases for collecting or using personal information for service updates or marketing purposes are:

• Legitimate interests – we’re collecting or using your information because it benefits you, our organisation or someone else, without causing an undue risk of harm to anyone. All of your data protection rights may apply, except the right to portability. Our legitimate interests are:

1. Collecting from businesses: names, contact details, telephone numbers, photographs in order to display information on the Festival Map and Business Directory, and to organise events

2. Collecting names and contact details of people in order to respond to enquiries.

Third-Party Services and Data Processors

In operating Whitby Hot Chocolate Festival, we use a number of third-party services that may process personal data on our behalf or as independent data controllers. We have carried out appropriate due diligence on each provider. The following sets out the relevant processors, the nature of data processed, and the legal basis for doing so.

Website Building  – Webador

Our website is created using Webador, a service provided by Webador B.V., a company incorporated in the Netherlands. As Webador B.V. is established in the Netherlands (an EU member state), transfers of personal data from the UK to Webador are subject to the UK's approach to international transfers; we rely on appropriate safeguards in accordance with UK GDPR Article 46, including Standard Contractual Clauses where applicable, to ensure your data remains protected. Our lawful basis for this processing is our legitimate interests in creating a functional, accessible, and secure website . For further information on how Webador processes data, please refer to Webador's Privacy Policy atwww.webador.com/privacy.

Document Storage and Collaboration – Google Docs (Google Workspace)

We use Google Docs, part of Google Workspace, provided by Google LLC, to create, store, and share documents relating to organisation of the Festival. Personal data contained within those documents (for example, spreadsheets of business contact details)  may be stored on Google's servers. Google acts as our data processor under a Data Processing Agreement. Data may be transferred outside the UK; Google relies on Standard Contractual Clauses as the transfer mechanism. Our lawful basis for this processing is our legitimate interests in maintaining efficient operations while organising the Festival. Further information is available in Google's Privacy Policy at policies.google.com/privacy.

Email Communications – Microsoft Outlook

We use Microsoft Outlook to send and receive email communications related to the Chocolate Festival. Any personal data contained in these emails (such as your name and email address) is processed by Microsoft Corporation as part of this service, and may be stored on Microsoft's servers, which can be located outside the UK/EEA. Microsoft acts as a data processor on our behalf and processes this data in accordance with its own data protection commitments and applicable data transfer safeguards (such as the EU Standard Contractual Clauses). We retain email correspondence only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected. 

Email Communications - Website Contact Forms

When you complete a form on this website, the information you submit - including your name and email address - is transmitted and processed by Webador, the platform on which this website is built. Webador acts as a data processor on our behalf and stores form submissions securely on our behalf. Your details will only be used to respond to your enquiry and will not be shared with any third party or used for marketing without your consent.

When you complete a form on this website to send information to the Festival organizers your email address is collected and stored securely by Webador as above, and may be exported and held in a password-protected spreadsheet accessible only to Whitby Hot Chocolate Festival and website builder The Town Mouse Writing Company and stored in their Google Workspace (see above). We have a Data Processing agreement with The Town Mouse Writing Company and their Privacy Notice can be seen here.  We do not share your email address with any third parties, and we will not use it for any purpose other than those described on the Form.

Our lawful basis for processing email correspondence, including web forms, is our legitimate interests in communicating effectively with clients and contacts, and use by the website designer to create the Festival Map and Business Directory.

 

Social Media – Facebook and Instagram (Meta Platforms)

We operate official social media channels on Facebook and Instagram to share news, interact with Festival businesses and visitors, and promote our events and activities.

We maintain business pages on Facebook and Instagram, both operated by Meta Platforms Ireland Limited ("Meta"). When you interact with our pages, for example, by liking, commenting, following, or sending a direct message, Meta will process your personal data in accordance with its own Privacy Policy. In respect of our business pages, Meta and we are joint data controllers for certain processing activities (such as page insights and analytics). We receive only aggregated, anonymised insights data from Meta and do not access your individual profile data. Our lawful basis for maintaining these pages and engaging with followers is our legitimate interests in promoting the Festival and communicating with our audience. You should be aware that Meta may transfer data outside the UK under Standard Contractual Clauses. We encourage you to review Meta's Privacy Policy atwww.facebook.com/privacy/policy and Instagram's supplementary information for full details of how your data is used. If you send us a direct message via Facebook or Instagram, we will use the information you provide solely to respond to your enquiry and will not retain it beyond what is necessary for that purpose.

Google Maps

Business details (such as name, address and contact details) submitted to us for the Chocolate Festival may be published on Google Maps to help visitors find you. This listing is created and controlled by Google LLC in accordance with its own privacy policy, available at https://policies.google.com/privacy.

Our website includes a link to Google Maps to help visitors find the festival venue. This is a plain outbound link:  no map is embedded on our site, and no data is collected or shared with Google when you view our website. If you click the link, you will leave our site and any data collection will be governed by Google's own privacy policy, available at https://policies.google.com/privacy. Our lawful basis for this processing is our legitimate interests in providing your information to prospective customers during the Festival.

CAPTCHA

We use Google reCAPTCHA on our website to protect forms  from spam and automated abuse. This service may collect data such as your IP address, browser and device information, and your interactions with the page, and may set cookies for this purpose. This data is processed by Google LLC in accordance with its own privacy policy, available at https://policies.google.com/privacy, and may be transferred to and stored on servers outside the UK/EEA. We use reCAPTCHA on the basis of our legitimate interest in keeping our website secure and preventing fraudulent submissions. Our lawful basis for this processing is our legitimate interests in protecting the forms from spam, bots, and abuse,

A note on your rights

Regardless of which third-party platform is involved, your UK GDPR rights (access, rectification, erasure, restriction, portability, and the right to object) remain applicable to the extent we control your personal data. To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at wdpchocfest1@outlook.com, where processing is carried out solely by a third party as an independent controller (e.g., Meta's own platform activity), you should exercise your rights directly with that organisation.

 

Where we get personal information from

• Directly from you

• You may provide personal information about other people who are to be included in Festival events, who are participating in Festival activities, or who appear on the Festival Map and Business Directory.

How long we keep information

The names, contact details and photographs of businesses particpating are stored by Whitby Hot Chocolate Festival until removal is requested.

The names and contact details of businesses appearing  on the Festival Map & Business Directory are stored in Outlook and in Google Drive documents. They are stored for a year after the end of the festival.

The names and contact details of anyone making an enquiry by telephone or email will be kept for six months after the enquiry.

Data Breaches

In the unlikely event of a data breach affecting your personal information, we will assess the risk without undue delay, take immediate steps to contain and address it, and notify the ICO and any affected individuals as required by UK GDPR where the breach poses a risk to their rights and freedoms.

How to complain

If you have any concerns about our use of your personal data, you can make a complaint to us by email on wdpchocfest1@outlook.com. We will acknowledge your complaint within 30 days, and reply as quickly as possible, in accordance with ICO guidance of June 2026. If you remain unhappy with how we’ve used your data after raising a complaint with us, you can also complain to the ICO. Subject Access Requests will be dealt with according to ICO guidance of June 2026.

The ICO’s address:  Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF

Helpline number: 0303 123 1113

 

Website: https://www.ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint