Last updated: November 2026

We understand that your data is important to you. This policy explains what personal information we collect, why, how long we keep it, and the choices and rights you have.

Who we are

The Gregynog Young Musician Competition is organised by Friends of Gregynog Young Musicians, a registered charity in England and Wales (charity number 1136763). We are responsible for your personal data (the "controller").

For any question about this policy or your data, email the Competition Secretary at sec@gregynogymc.co.uk.

What we collect and why

Competition entries
When you enter, we collect the entrant's name, date of birth, contact details, instrument, Grade 8 certificate or teacher's endorsement, the recordings you send us, and details of any accompanist. If the entrant is under 18 we may also hold contact details for a parent, guardian or teacher.
Why: to check eligibility, run the competition, contact entrants and arrange accompanists. The date of birth is needed because entry is limited to those aged 18 or under.

Performances, photographs and results
As set out in the competition rules, the competition is photographed, filmed and live-streamed. We publish finalists' and winners' names, instruments, photographs and performance videos on this website and our social media.
Why: to celebrate the competitors and promote the competition. If you would like a photo or video of you removed, please contact us.

Friends' subscriptions, donations and Gift Aid
When you join the Friends or make a Gift Aid declaration we collect your name, address, postcode, telephone number, email address, your chosen subscription and how you intend to pay. We do not collect card or bank details on this website – payments are made directly to our bank or by cheque.
Why: to administer your membership, send you updates and claim Gift Aid. We must keep Gift Aid declarations so that HM Revenue & Customs can check our claims.

Email updates
If you are a Friend, a past competitor or have asked to hear from us, we may email you news about the competition. Every email lets you unsubscribe, or you can simply tell us.

Tickets
Tickets are sold by TicketSource, who handle your booking and payment under their own privacy policy. They share booking details with us so we can manage the event.

When you email or contact us
We keep your message and contact details so that we can reply.

Our legal basis

Data protection law requires us to have a lawful basis for using your information. We rely on:

• Contract – to process competition entries and Friends' memberships.
• Legal obligation – to keep Gift Aid and financial records.
• Legitimate interests – to run and promote the competition, publish results, photographs and videos, and keep in touch with Friends and past competitors. We always weigh this against your interests and rights.
• Consent – for analytics cookies, and for anything else where we have asked for your permission. You can withdraw consent at any time.

Who we share your data with

We will never sell your data. We only share it where necessary with:

• our adjudicators and official accompanists, so they can take part in the competition;
• Micro Video (Shrewsbury) Ltd, who film and live-stream the competition;
• HM Revenue & Customs, for Gift Aid claims;
• trusted service providers who help us run the charity – for example our website host and managers (Seren Web), our email provider and TicketSource;
• legal or regulatory authorities, where we are required to by law.

Cookies

Cookies are small files stored by your browser. We keep their use to a minimum.

Videos. Performance videos are played from YouTube (in its privacy-enhanced mode) or Vimeo. These services may set their own cookies when you press play – see the Google and Vimeo privacy policies.

Other services. Like most websites, some of our pages load files from other providers (for example code.jquery.com). They may see your IP address when your browser fetches those files, but they don't set cookies for us.

Information our website host collects

When you visit, our web server automatically records technical information such as your IP address, browser type, the pages you request and the time of your visit. This is used to keep the site secure and working, and is not used to identify you.

How long we keep your data

• Competition entries from people who are not selected: until the end of the following competition year.
• Finalists' and winners' names, results, photographs and videos: kept as a permanent record of the competition, unless you ask us to remove them.
• Friends' membership details: while you are a member and for a short time afterwards.
• Gift Aid declarations and financial records: for as long as HM Revenue & Customs requires – at least six years after the last donation they cover.
• Emails and enquiries: for as long as needed to deal with them.

Where your data is stored

Your data is stored in the UK wherever possible. Some of our service providers, such as Google, may process data outside the UK. Where this happens, it is protected by UK government adequacy decisions or other legal safeguards, as required by UK data protection law.

Your rights

Under UK data protection law you have the right to:

• be told what data we hold and how we use it;
• have a copy of the data we hold about you;
• have inaccurate data corrected;
• have your data deleted in certain circumstances;
• restrict how we use your data;
• receive your data in a portable format;
• object to us using your data, including for email updates;
• not be subject to decisions made solely by automated means (we don't make any).

To use any of these rights, email sec@gregynogymc.co.uk. We will respond within one month.

Complaints

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your data, please email sec@gregynogymc.co.uk with "Data protection complaint" in the subject line. We will acknowledge your complaint within 30 days and keep you informed until it is resolved.

You can also complain to the UK regulator, the Information Commission (formerly the Information Commissioner's Office), at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The date at the top shows when it was last changed.