Privacy Policy
Issue: 1.1 January 2022
The Manchester & Lancashire Family History Society
Privacy Policy
For the purposes of the General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR")and UK data protection laws,the controller is Manchester & Lancashire Family History Society (MLFHS).
About this document
This privacy policy sets out the way we process your personal data and we’ve created this privacy policy to make sure you are aware of how we use your data as a member of our society or as a non-member commissioning our services.
How we collect your information
As necessary we may collect the following personal data about you:
- when you fill in an application for membership;
- when you renew your membership;
- when you sign up for a society newsletter;
- when you raise a specific research enquiry;
- when you arrange purchase orders for events or sales.
The types of information we collect We collect the following types of personal data about you:
- Contact and communications information, including your contact details (including email address, telephone numbers and postal address).
- Financial information, specifically Bank Standing Order details.
- Information about your family history research interests.
How we use personal data
Personal data provided to us will be used for the purposes set out at the time of collection and, where relevant, in accordance with any preferences you express.
More generally, we will use your personal data for the following purposes only:
- Administration of your society membership, and related services, including:
- Sending you the quarterly society magazine “The Manchester Genealogist”;
- taking payment of membership fees;
- communication about your membership subscription and in particular reminders when the date for renewal is approaching;
- enabling third parties to contact you by email in response to your publication of surname research interests (your personal details are not divulged to the third party).
- Fulfillment of orders for goods and services, (including the Society Bookshop) where this is necessary for the performance of a contract with you;
- Communication about our activities that we think may be of interest to you;
where this is necessary for our legitimate interests.
Your marketing preferences
We will always respect your wishes in respect of what type of communications you want to receive from us and how you want to receive them. There are some communications,however, that we need to send you regardless of your marketing preferences in order for us to fulfill our contractual obligations to you as a member of our society. Examples of these essential service communications are:
- Records of transactions, such as payment receipts or Bank Standing Order mandates (as applicable)
- Membership related mailings such as your membership renewal reminder, notices of formal meetings and information about venue closures and holiday opening hours.
You are in control of how we communicate with you. You can update your choices and / or your contact details by contacting us at:Email:
Sharing your information with others
We do not make your personal data available to other organizations for any purpose.
Personal data collected and processed by us may be shared with nominated MLFHS volunteers for the purposes of administering your membership and giving you access to the membership benefits to which you are entitled.
How long your information is kept
We keep your personal data only for as long as necessary for each purpose we use it. For most membership data, this means we retain it for so long as you have a valid Society membership and for up to a period of six years after your last financial interaction with us (for accounting, tax reporting and record-keeping purposes.)
Bank Standing Order mandate forms and credit card details are destroyed once payment has been processed.
Your rights
Under certain circumstances, by law you have the right to:
- Request access to your personal data (commonly known as a "data subject access request"). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.
- Request correction of the personal data that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate information we hold about you corrected.
- Request erasure of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal data where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal data where you have exercised your right to object to processing (see below).
- Object to processing of your personal data wherewe are relying on a legitimate interest and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal data for direct marketing purposes.
- Request the restriction of processing of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of personal data about you, for example if you want us to establish its accuracy or the reason for processing it.
Please note that the above rights are not absolute, and we may be entitled to refuse requests where exceptions apply or where this is necessary for our legitimate interests in managing your membership of the society.
Contact and complaints
If you have any queries about this privacy policy or how we process your personal data, or if you wish to exercise any of your legal rights,you may contact The Data Protection Manager, MLFHS
- by email: [
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ]; - or by post: to Manchester & Lancashire FHS, 3rd Floor, Manchester Central Library, St. Peters Square, Manchester M2 5PD.
If you are not satisfied with how we are processing your personal data, you can make a complaint to the Information Commissioner. You can find out more about your rights under applicable data protection laws from the Information Commissioner’s Officewebsite:
www.ico.org.uk.