Last updated: 31 October 2026
This notice explains what personal information Bury St Edmunds Folk Festival collects through this website, why we collect it, how we look after it and what your rights are. We keep it short because we collect very little.
Who we are
Bury St Edmunds Folk Festival is an independent folk festival held in the Walled Garden at Nowton Park, Bury St Edmunds. The festival is run by Gavin Mitchell as a sole trader, who is the data controller for the information described here.
If you have any questions about this notice or your information, please use the contact form on our home page and choose “General enquiry”.
What we collect and why
1. Our mailing list
If you join our mailing list we collect your email address and, if you choose to give them, your first and last name. We use these only to send you news about Bury St Edmunds Folk Festival, such as the 2028 date, artist announcements, tickets and ways to get involved.
- Lawful basis: your consent. You can withdraw it at any time using the unsubscribe link in every email.
- Who holds it: our mailing list is managed by Mailchimp (Intuit Inc.). Mailchimp may record whether you open our emails and click links, which helps us see what people find useful.
- How long we keep it: until you unsubscribe. We may also remove addresses that haven’t opened any of our emails for three years.
2. Our contact form
If you send us a message we collect your name, email address, the type of enquiry and your message, so that we can reply.
- Lawful basis: our legitimate interest in answering enquiries about the festival.
- Who holds it: messages are emailed to the festival team’s inbox, provided by Microsoft 365.
- How long we keep it: up to two years, then deleted, unless the message leads to an ongoing arrangement such as an artist booking, trader pitch or sponsorship, in which case we keep it for as long as we need to for that arrangement and our records.
- Sending a message does not add you to our mailing list.
3. Running the website
Like most websites, our hosting provider automatically records basic technical information when you visit, such as your IP address, browser type and the pages requested. Our security service, Wordfence, also checks visits to block attacks and suspicious activity, which involves processing your IP address. This information is used only to keep the website secure and working, and is kept for a short period.
- Lawful basis: our legitimate interest in running a secure website.
- Who holds it: Hostinger International Ltd, which hosts this website, and Defiant Inc., which provides Wordfence.
Who we share it with
We never sell or rent your information, and we don’t share it with other organisations for their own marketing. We only use these service providers, who process it on our behalf and under our instructions:
| Provider | What they do | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Mailchimp (Intuit Inc.) | Mailing list and emails | USA |
| Hostinger International Ltd | Website hosting | EU |
| Defiant Inc. (Wordfence) | Website security | USA |
| Microsoft 365 | Receives contact form messages | UK or EU |
Where information is stored outside the UK, as with Mailchimp and Wordfence in the USA, it is protected by recognised safeguards such as the UK–US data bridge or approved contract clauses.
We may also share information if the law requires us to.
Your rights
Under UK data protection law you have the right to:
- ask for a copy of the information we hold about you
- ask us to correct anything that’s wrong
- ask us to delete your information
- ask us to restrict or stop using it, or object to how we use it
- withdraw your consent at any time, for example by unsubscribing
- ask for your information in a format you can take elsewhere
To use any of these rights, contact us using the contact form. We’ll respond within one month. There’s no charge.
If you’re unhappy with how we’ve handled your information, please tell us first so we can put it right. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113.
Keeping your information safe
Only the festival organisers can see your information, and the services we use protect it with secure connections and passwords.
Children
Our mailing list and contact form are intended for adults. We don’t knowingly collect information from children under 13.
Cookies
Read our cookies notice to find out about cookies on this website.
Changes to this notice
We’ll update this notice if the way we use information changes, for example when our full website returns for 2028. The date at the top shows when it was last updated.