VPA, The Holmer Green Gardening Association, takes members’ privacy rights very seriously. This privacy policy sets out how we will deal with your ‘personal information’, that is, information that could identify, or is related to the identity of, an individual.

What personal information do we collect?

When you express an interest in becoming a member of the VPA you will be asked to provide certain information. This includes:

• Name
• Home address
• Email address
• Telephone number.

How do we collect this personal information?

All the information collected is obtained directly from you. This is usually at the point of your initial registration. The information is collected via membership forms or online contact forms. At the point that you provide your personal information for membership purposes, we will also request that you provide consent for us to store and use your data. Your consent is required in order to ensure our compliance with data protection legislation. 

How do we use your personal information?

We use your personal information: 

• To provide VPA activities and services to you
• For administration, planning and management of the VPA
• To communicate with you about activities organised by the VPA
• To monitor, develop and improve the provision of the VPA’s activities

We’ll send you messages by email, other digital methods, telephone and post to advise you of VPA activities. 

With whom do we share your personal information?

We may disclose information about you, including your personal information:

• Internally to Committee Members as required to facilitate your participation in the VPA’s activities.
• If we have a statutory duty to disclose it for other legal and regulatory reasons.

Where we need to share your information outside of the VPA we will seek your permission and inform you as to who the information will be shared with and for what purpose.

How long do we keep your personal information?

We need to keep your information so that we can provide our services to you. There may be occasions when legal or insurance circumstances require information to be held for longer whilst they are investigated or resolved. In such cases, the member/s will be informed how long the information will be held and when it is deleted.

How your information can be updated or corrected

To ensure that the information we hold is accurate and up to date, members need to inform the VPA as to any changes to their personal information. You can do this by contacting the Membership Secretary at any time. The name and address of the Membership Secretary is available via the VPA website (www.hgvpa.org) or you can email membership@hgvpa.org.

If you wish to view the information that the VPA holds on you, you can make this request by contacting the Membership Secretary – as detailed above. There may be certain circumstances where we are not able to comply with this request. This would include where the information may contain references to another individuals or for legal, investigative or security reasons. Otherwise we will usually respond within 14 days of the request being made.

How do we store your personal information?

We have in place a range of security safeguards to protect your personal information against loss or theft, as well as unauthorised access, disclosure, copying, use, or modification

Availability and changes to this policy

This policy is available on the VPA website. This policy may change from time to time. If we make any material changes, we will make members aware of this via the VPA newsletter.

Contact

If you have any queries about this policy, need it in an alternative format, or have any complaints about our privacy practices, please contact us:

Email: chair@hgvpa.club.

Signed on behalf of the VPA Committee:

Date: 1 February 2024

Policy review date: 1 April 2026

If you would like to download a copy of this policy, please click here.