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Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy sets out the way we process your personal information.  It applies to all grades of Guild membership.  We’ve created this notice to make sure you are aware of how we use your data as a member of the Garden Media Guild.  We will refer to this document or any associated web pages, when we ask you for your consent and we’ll keep this document updated , so you can be confident that when sharing your information with us that it will only be used for what we describe here.

The Garden Media Guild (hereafter referred to as “the Guild”) is a not-for-profit, membership organisation with the following principal objectives:

  • Raising the quality of garden writing, photography, broadcasting and editing
  • Helping members operate efficiently and profitably
  • Improving communication between members
  • Promoting liaison between members and the broader horticultural industry

The Professional Garden Photographers Association (PGPA) is an integral part of the Guild, and as such, will process members’ data with reference to the same policies as the Guild.

The Guild operates from the premises of the management company AMS, which is based at Katepwa House, Ashfield Park Avenue, Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire HR9 5AX.The Guild is the ‘Data Controller’ of any of your personal data that you have shared with us.The Guild became subject to the General Data Protection Act 2018 (known as GDPR), when this passed into law on May 25, 2018. Prior to that, the Guild adhered to the UK Data Protection Act (1998) and was registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office under Registration Number Z8360313.

How we collect your information

We collect information from members in the following ways:

  • Directly from the member when you complete an application for membership or when you interact with us during your time as a member (for example when you attend our AGM, or an event organised by us)
  • When you enter the Garden Media Guild Awards
  • When you pay your annual subscription or renew your membership
  • When you maintain your profile on the Guild’s website or that of the PGPA
  • Social media addresses, if supplied (e.g. on the member’s personal profile website page).

We also collect information from non-members when they enter the Garden Media Awards, or interact directly with us in other ways.

The types of information we collect

We may collect the following types of information about you:

  • Contact and communications information, including your contact details, (including e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, postal address)
  • Records of communications and interactions we have had with you
  • Certain other information that you volunteer to give us when making use of our member services, such as our web site(s). This may include photographs of yourself when maintaining your profile on the Guild website.
  • Any financial information provided to us, as payment for the provision of services, is passed by AMS to the Guild’s bank. The Guild does not retain this information, but AMS may do so, if it is included in documents kept for accounting or legal purposes.

How we use your personal information

Personal information provided to us will be used for the following purposes, and is subject to any preferences you express:

  • Administration of memberships
  • Fulfilment of orders for services (such as Awards Lunch tickets)
  • By putting you in contact with a mentor/buddy if you have requested this
  • Advising you of any special offers we think might interest you
  • By providing you with information that will inform your professional work
  • Research and statistical analysis
  • Communication about the Guild, membership and other activities that we think may interest you, including our quarterly magazine (GMG News) and E-Bulletins that may carry information about members, subject always to those members' personal preferences
  • Administration of annual or other Awards
  • Representing our members' interests and concerns before government
  • By publishing your details on the Guild’s website, in personal profiles the content of which is supplied and maintained by you.

The Guild is required to obtain member’s consent to provide their personal information to AMS.

Our communications with you

The Guild is a membership body that achieves its primary objectives (listed above) through communication with and between its members. The Guild issues to members its quarterly magazine GMG News, a regular E-Bulletin, e-mails, press releases and marketing and promotional flyers. These may be aimed at publicising Guild activities or issued on behalf of businesses in the horticultural industry at our discretion. At annual subscription renewal, each member is asked to opt-in to consent to receive such information. They are also asked to renew their consent for their personal data to be transferred to the Guild’s Administrator, AMS. If such consent is not received, the Guild cannot continue to service that particular member.

Sharing your information with others

The Guild does not sell nor share your personal information for other organisations to use, other than as set out below:

  • The Guild’s volunteers and committee members for the purposes of administering your membership and the Guild’s activities (including mentoring/buddying probationary members)
  • Under strict obligations of confidentiality and with appropriate contractual conditions in place, the Guild’s Administrator (AMS)
  • Any specialist advisers that the Guild may employ to administer our business (this could include specialists who help with the administration of the Awards Lunch, for example.

When we allow such third parties access to your information, we will always have complete control of what they see, what they are allowed to do with it and how long they are allowed to use it.

How long your information is kept

We hold your information only as long as necessary for each purpose we use it. For most membership data, this means we only retain it as long as you have a valid membership. This will be no later than one month after you request us to remove it. If no request is received, membership data may be retained by the Guild for a period of six years after your last interaction with us for accounting and record-keeping purposes to comply with legal requirements.

Your rights

You have the right to ask us, in writing, for a copy of all the personal information that we hold about you. This is known as a “subject access request”. A copy will be sent to you as soon as possible and not more than one month after your original request. Subject access requests should be sent to our administrators: AMS, Katepwa House, Ashfield Park Avenue, Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire HR9 5AX.

Under the original UK Data Protection law, you are also entitled to:

  • Require us not to send you marketing communications
  • Require that we cease processing your personal data if the processing is causing you damage or distress.

Under the new GDPR regulations, effective from May 25, 2018, you will have the following additional rights:

  • To require us to correct the personal data we hold about you if it is inaccurate, albeit that the information in your personal profile on this website should be maintained and updated by yourself
  • To request that we erase your personal data
  • To request that we restrict our data processing (and, where our processing is based on your consent, withdraw that consent, without affecting the lawfulness of our processing based on consent before withdrawal)
  • To receive from us the personal data we hold about you, which you have provided to us, in a reasonable format specified by you, including for the purpose of you transmitting that personal data to another Data Controller
  • To object, on grounds relating to your particular situation, to any of our particular processing activities where you think this has a disproportionate impact on your rights.

Please note that the above rights are not absolute, and we may be entitled to refuse requests where exceptions apply, for example if we can show that our processing is necessary for a lawful purpose set out in this Privacy Policy.

Updating and amending your personal data

We will always try to keep your data as up-to-date as possible. If at any time you would like to update or amend your personal data or marketing preferences, then you can do so by amending your Guild website profile online and by advising our administrators, AMS.

The verification, updating or amendment of your personal data will take place within 28 working days of your request.

Contact and complaints

If you have any queries about this Privacy Policy or how we process your personal information, or if you wish to exercise any of your rights under applicable law, you can contact us at:

The Garden Media Guild

Katepwa House, Ashfield Park Road, Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire HR9 5AX

Tel: 01989 567393
E-mail: admin@gardenmediaguild.co.uk

Your request will be passed to one of the Guild’s Honorary Officers if it cannot be handled directly by the staff at AMS.

If you are not satisfied with how we are processing your personal information, you can make a complaint to the Information Commissioner. You can find out more about your rights under applicable data protection legislation from the Information Commissioner’s Office website available at www.ico.org.uk