Last updated: 28 August 2025
Data We Collect
Gathering the Voices may collect the following categories of personal information:
- Questions, queries, or feedback that you submit, including your email address if you contact us directly.
- Your email address and subscription preferences if you choose to sign up for our email alerts.
- Information regarding your interaction with our email communications, such as whether you open them and the links you select.
- Information on how you use our website, collected through cookies and page-tagging technologies.
We utilise Google Analytics to analyse website usage. This involves the collection of anonymised data, including IP addresses, prior to processing.
Google Analytics records:
- Pages visited and the time spent on each page
- How you arrived at the site
- Items clicked while browsing
We do not collect or store identifiable personal information (e.g., name, address) through Google Analytics, nor do we attempt to identify individual users from analytics data.
Purpose of Data Collection
The information collected is used for the following purposes:
- To ensure that the website meets the needs of its users
- To enhance the performance and functionality of the website, including search functionality
- To gather feedback to improve services such as email alerts
- To respond to direct communications when requested
- To provide requested subscription-based email updates
For the purposes of UK and EU data protection legislation, Gathering the Voices is the data controller. Enquiries may be directed to: gatheringthevoices@gmail.com.
Your Rights – UK and EU Residents
If you are based in the United Kingdom or the European Economic Area (EEA), data protection legislation grants you the following rights:
- Right of Access – You may request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
- Right to Rectification – You may request correction of inaccurate or incomplete personal data.
- Right to Erasure – You may request the deletion of your personal data, except where retention is required by law or for legitimate business purposes.
- Right to Restrict Processing – You may request limitations on how your personal data is processed.
- Right to Object – You may object to the processing of your personal data where we rely on legitimate interests or direct marketing.
- Right to Data Portability – You may request a copy of your personal data in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format.
- Right to Withdraw Consent – Where we rely on your consent to process personal data (e.g., for email alerts), you may withdraw this consent at any time.
- Right to Lodge a Complaint – You have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority:
- In the UK: the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at www.ico.org.uk
- In the EEA: your local data protection authority.
We will only process such requests once your identity has been verified. Verification may require confirmation of your email address or associated account details.
Comments
By default, comments are disabled across the website. If comments are enabled on a particular page:
- Data submitted through the comments form, along with the commenter’s IP address and browser user agent, will be collected for spam detection.
- A hashed version of your email address may be shared with the Gravatar service to determine whether you use it. Further information is available at Gravatar’s Privacy Policy. If approved, your profile image may appear alongside your comment.
External Links
Where this website provides links to other websites, users are advised to consult the privacy policies of those websites to understand how personal data is managed.
Cookies
- A temporary cookie may be set to verify browser compatibility with cookies. This contains no personal data and is deleted upon closing the browser.
- Cookies may be used to store login credentials and display preferences. Login cookies expire after two days, while display preference cookies expire after one year. Selecting “Remember Me” extends login retention to two weeks. Logging out removes login cookies.
- If you edit or publish content, an additional cookie will be stored for one day. This contains no personal data and serves only to record the content identifier.
WordPress and Plugins
Our website is operated using WordPress as the Content Management System (CMS). WordPress and associated plugins may collect and process limited personal and technical data to ensure the site functions securely and effectively.
Core WordPress Functions
- If you leave a comment (when enabled), WordPress may set a cookie to remember your name, email address, and website for convenience in future comments.
- Registered users (if applicable) will have their data stored in our WordPress database, including username, email address, and any profile details provided. Passwords are stored in encrypted form and cannot be accessed in plain text.
- Technical information such as IP addresses, browser type, and referrer URLs may be logged automatically for security and troubleshooting purposes.
Plugins and Third-Party Services
Our website uses plugins to enhance functionality. Some of these may collect, process, or store personal data:
- Akismet Anti-Spam: When comments are enabled, information such as the commenter’s IP address, user agent, and the comment itself may be sent to the Akismet service to check for spam. See Akismet Privacy Policy.
- Contact Forms: If you complete a contact form, the details you provide are sent to our email account and not stored in the WordPress database, unless otherwise stated.
- Security Plugins: These may log IP addresses and attempted login data to protect the site against malicious access.
- Backup Services: Backup plugins may create and store encrypted copies of website files and databases, which may contain personal data such as usernames or email addresses.
Theme
Our website uses the GeneratePress theme, which operates on WordPress. GeneratePress itself does not collect personal data from visitors. However, it may interact with WordPress core functions, such as comments, cookies, or display preferences, and therefore indirectly use data already processed by WordPress. Any personal data handled through the theme is subject to this privacy policy.
Hosting
The website is hosted with a third-party provider. Any personal data processed through this site, including backups, may be stored on the hosting provider’s servers. The provider is contractually obliged to protect personal data in accordance with data protection laws.
Embedded and Linked Services
As a WordPress site, we may use embedded third-party content (e.g., videos, maps, articles). Interaction with such embedded content is equivalent to visiting the third-party site directly, and those sites may collect data in accordance with their own privacy policies.
Embedded Content
Pages on this site may contain embedded content (e.g., videos, images, articles). Interaction with such embedded content is equivalent to visiting the external source directly. Such third-party sites may collect data, use cookies, embed third-party tracking, and monitor interaction, particularly if you are logged in to the external site.
Media
If you upload images to the website, you should avoid including embedded location data (EXIF GPS), as this information may be accessible to visitors who download the images.
Contact Forms
We do not store contact form submissions on the website. Instead, submissions are forwarded directly to our Google Mail account. Should this process change, we will update this policy accordingly.
Acceptance of Terms and Consent
By accessing and using this website, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by the terms of this Privacy Policy. Continued use of the website will be considered as your acceptance of any updates to this policy. If you do not agree with this policy, you should discontinue use of the website immediately.
Contact Information
For all matters relating to data protection or this policy, please contact us at: gatheringthevoices@gmail.com.
Changes to this Policy
This privacy policy may be amended from time to time. Any amendments will be reflected by a revised “last updated” date at the top of this page. Updates will take immediate effect and apply to all data held