PRIVACY POLICY
1. Who we are
This website is operated by Allied Masonic Degrees, District Grand Council of London, an unincorporated association. In this policy, “we”, “us” and “our” refer to the District Grand Council.
Data controller contact:
- Email: dpo@amdlondon.org
- Correspondence address: Mark Masons’ Hall, 86 St James’s Street, London, SW1A 1PL, United Kingdom
2. Scope
This policy explains how we collect, use, store and share personal data when you visit amdlondon.org, contact us through it, or when we publish information about serving and past Officers of the District Grand Council.
It does not cover the internal record-keeping of individual Lodges, which are governed separately.
3. Information we collect
| Category | Examples | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Officer / appointment data | Name, Masonic rank, office held, Province/Lodge affiliation | Submitted by the District Grand Secretary’s office for publication |
| Contact form data | Name, email address, message content | Directly from you, via the website |
| Republished content | Text and photographs originally posted to the “AMD London” Facebook group (facebook.com/amdlondon) | Reviewed and migrated by an authorised administrator |
| Event / meeting registration data | Name, email address, and any other fields collected on the RSVP form | Directly from you, when you register for a meeting or event via The Events Calendar plugin |
| Technical and usage data | IP address, browser type, pages visited, referring site | Automatically, via Burst Statistics |
| Cookies | See Section 7 | Automatically |
4. How we use your information and our legal basis
| Purpose | Legal basis (UK GDPR Art. 6) |
|---|---|
| Publishing names, ranks and offices of current/past Officers | Legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(f)) — institutional transparency and historical record for an invitation-only membership body |
| Responding to enquiries via the contact form | Legitimate interests / necessary steps prior to entering a relationship (Art. 6(1)(f)/(b)) |
| Publishing meeting and event notices | Legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(f)) |
| Maintaining a historical archive of Facebook group content | Legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(f)), subject to the safeguards in Section 6 |
| Processing your registration (RSVP) for a meeting or event | Necessary to administer your attendance at the event you have registered for (Art. 6(1)(b)/(f)) |
| Site analytics (aggregate visitor statistics) | PECR statistical-purposes exception plus legitimate interests |
We do not use your data for automated decision-making or profiling, and we do not sell personal data to third parties.
5. Officer and Member information
As an invitation-only institutional body, we publish the names, Masonic ranks and offices of serving (and, in some cases, past) Officers as part of maintaining an accurate public record of the District Grand Council.
- Before publication, this information is confirmed by the District Grand Secretary for accuracy.
- Any Officer or former Officer who objects to their name, rank or office being published may contact us at dpo@amdlondon.org to request removal or correction. We will consider each request against our legitimate interest in maintaining an accurate institutional record.
- We do not publish personal contact details (e.g. personal telephone numbers or non-organisational email addresses) for any Officer.
6. Photographs and content sourced from the Facebook group
We are progressively migrating historical content from the AMD London Facebook group to this website, with authorisation from the original poster(s).
- Where a photograph includes an identifiable person who is not the submitting member, that image is held for manual review before publication.
- If you appear in a photograph on this site and did not consent to its publication, or wish it removed, contact dpo@amdlondon.org and we will remove or blur the image pending review, without requiring you to justify the request.
- Republished content and photographs are retained indefinitely as part of the historical record, unless a takedown request under this section is upheld.
7. Cookies and analytics
We use the following categories of cookies and similar technologies:
- Strictly necessary — required for the site to function (e.g. session security). No consent is required for these under PECR.
- Statistics — via Burst Statistics, a self-hosted, first-party analytics tool that does not share data with any third party.
- We do not require your consent to run this analytics tool, because it collects only aggregate, anonymised usage statistics for our own use and is never shared with third parties. You can opt out at any time via the controls at amdlondon.org/cookie-declaration.
A full, current list of cookies in use, including the opt-out control, is maintained at amdlondon.org/cookie-declaration.
8. Who we share information with
- Hosting provider: Hostinger, Germany.
- Plugin/service providers acting as processors: WordPress core, Burst Statistics (self-hosted, first-party — no data shared with third parties), The Events Calendar (stores registrant name/email for meeting RSVPs), and our hosting provider’s own mail service for form notifications.
- We do not share personal data with third parties for their own marketing purposes, and we do not sell personal data.
9. International transfers
Our hosting provider is based in Germany, which is part of the European Economic Area (EEA). The EEA is recognised as adequate under UK data protection law, so no additional safeguards are required for this transfer. Email delivery is also handled by the same hosting provider, so no separate transfer arises there.
10. How long we keep your information
| Data category | Retention |
|---|---|
| Officer / appointment records | For the duration of the appointment, plus retention as part of the permanent historical record, unless a removal request under Section 5 is upheld |
| Contact form enquiries | 12 months from resolution, unless a longer period is needed for an ongoing matter |
| Republished Facebook content/photographs | Indefinitely, as part of the historical record, unless a takedown request under Section 6 is upheld |
| Event/meeting registration (RSVP) data | 12 months after the event date, unless a longer period is needed for attendance/history records |
| Analytics data | Aggregate/statistical only; not linked to identifiable individuals |
11. How we protect your information
We take reasonable steps to protect the personal data we hold, including encryption in transit via HTTPS, restricting administrative access to the site, and maintaining backup arrangements to guard against data loss.
12. Your rights
Under UK GDPR, you have the right to:
- Access the personal data we hold about you
- Have inaccurate data corrected
- Request erasure of your data, in certain circumstances
- Restrict how we use your data
- Object to processing based on legitimate interests
- Receive your data in a portable format, where applicable
- Not be subject to solely automated decision-making that produces legal or similarly significant effects (we do not currently carry out any such processing)
- Withdraw consent at any time, where processing is based on consent
To exercise any of these rights, contact dpo@amdlondon.org.
13. Complaints
If you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal data, please contact us first at dpo@amdlondon.org so we can try to resolve it directly. UK data protection law gives you the right to complain directly to us, and requires us to acknowledge your complaint within 30 days, take appropriate steps to resolve it without undue delay, and keep you informed of progress and the outcome.
You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO):
- Website: ico.org.uk
- Telephone: 0303 123 1113
- Post: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF
14. Children’s data
This website is not directed at, and we do not knowingly collect information from, individuals under 18.
15. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. The date at the top shows when it was last revised. Material changes will be notified by posting a notice on this website.
16. Contact us
dpo@amdlondon.org
Mark Masons’ Hall, 86 St James’s Street, London, SW1A 1PL, United Kingdom
Annex 1 — Photography and Images
Version 1.0 · Effective 12 August 2026
1. Status of this Annex
This Annex forms part of, and is to be read together with, the Privacy Policy of the District Grand Council of London, Allied Masonic Degrees (“the District”). It supplements the Privacy Policy and does not replace it.
This Annex sets out in full how we process photographs and other images of identifiable individuals. Where the body of the Privacy Policy is silent on, or inconsistent with, the processing of photographs, this Annex prevails. In particular, any list of categories of personal data set out in the body of the Privacy Policy is to be read as including the photographic material described in this Annex.
This Annex takes effect from the date shown above. The date shown in the body of the Privacy Policy relates to the body of that Policy and not to this Annex. The identity of the controller, the contact details, and the complaints provisions in the body of the Privacy Policy apply equally to this Annex.
2. What we publish
We publish photographs taken at meetings, installations, consecrations, festive boards and other events organised by or on behalf of the District. These may include individual and group photographs of members, officers, visiting brethren and their guests, and may be accompanied by names, Masonic ranks and offices held, and the date and place of the event.
3. Why we publish them
- to record and communicate the activities of the District to its members;
- to inform members of events they were unable to attend;
- to maintain an accurate and continuous historical record of the Order in London.
4. Legal basis
Photographs of identifiable people are personal data. Because a photograph taken at a Masonic event may reveal an individual’s membership of the Order, we treat such photographs as special category data under Article 9 of the UK GDPR, and we rely on more than one legal basis.
| Type of Image | Article 6 basis | Article 9 condition |
|---|---|---|
| Images in which no individual is identifiable (premises, regalia, wide or reverse-angle shots) |
Article 6(1)(f) — our legitimate interest in recording and communicating the activities of the District |
Not applicable |
| Images of identifiable members and former members, relating to the activities of the District |
Article 6(1)(f) | Article 9(2)(d) — processing in the course of the legitimate activities of a not-for-profit body with a philosophical aim, relating solely to its members and former members |
| Images of identifiable individuals published on the publicly accessible pages of this website, and Images of guests and other non-members |
Article 6(1)(a) — consent | Article 9(2)(a) — explicit consent |
5. How consent is obtained and recorded
Where an event is to be photographed for publication, we tell those attending in advance — in the summons, in the event notice, or on arrival — and we ask those who appear in photographs intended for publication to give their consent in writing. We keep a record of each consent given, showing who consented, to what, and when.
Giving consent is entirely voluntary. If you do not wish to be photographed, or do not wish a photograph of you to be published, tell the photographer or the Secretary present. You do not need to give a reason, and no disadvantage of any kind will follow.
You may withdraw your consent at any time by contacting dpo@amdlondon.org. Withdrawal is as easy as giving consent, and we will act on it without asking you to justify it. Withdrawing consent does not affect the lawfulness of publication before the withdrawal took effect.
6. Historical material
This website includes photographs recording the history of the District which predate the arrangements described in paragraph 5, and which we hold as part of a permanent archive under Article 9(2)(d). If you appear in such a photograph and do not wish it to remain published, tell us and we will remove it — see paragraph 9.
7. Children, and what we do not do
We do not publish any photograph in which a person under the age of 18 is identifiable without the written consent of a person holding parental responsibility for them.
- We do not use facial recognition, automated tagging or any other biometric processing.
- We do not carry out automated decision-making or profiling using photographs.
- We do not sell photographs, licence them to advertisers, or make them available for the training of artificial-intelligence systems.
- We do not transfer photographs outside the United Kingdom or the European Economic Area.
This website is hosted in Germany.
8. How long we keep photographs
| Material | Retention |
|---|---|
| Routine event galleries | Reviewed after five years; removed unless there is a continuing reason to retain them |
| Images of ceremonial or historical significance (consecrations, installations, District occasions) |
Retained indefinitely as part of the permanent archive of the District, subject to your right to object |
| Consent records, withdrawals and removal requests | Six years from the date the Image was removed or the consent withdrawn, so that we can demonstrate compliance and avoid republishing an Image in error |
9. Your rights, and how to have a photograph removed
In relation to photographs you have the right to ask for a copy of the Images we hold of you (Article 15), to ask us to erase an Image (Article 17), to object to our publishing it (Article 21), and to withdraw any consent you have given (Article 7(3)). You do not need to give a reason for any of these requests.
How to ask. Email dpo@amdlondon.org, or write to the District Grand Secretary, Allied Masonic Degrees, District Grand Council of London, Mark Masons’ Hall, 86 St James’s Street, London SW1A 1PL. If you are able to include the address of the page and a description of the photograph, that helps us act more quickly, but it is not a requirement — if you cannot, we will search for you.
Our response times. We will acknowledge your request within five working days and complete it within one month. If your request is complex, or covers a large number of Images, we may extend that period by up to two further months; if so, we will tell you within the first month and explain why.
What removal means in practice. We delete the original file and every copy generated by this website, and we remove the Image from any page, gallery or archive on which it appears. We then ask search engines to remove the affected pages from their results. We cannot control copies made by third parties who downloaded the Image before removal, nor copies held by independent web archives, but we will tell you what we have done and what we have not been able to do. Once an Image has been removed at your request, we record that fact so that it is not republished by mistake.
10. Complaints
If you are unhappy with how we have handled a request under this Annex, contact dpo@amdlondon.org in the first instance. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office — ico.org.uk, or 0303 123 1113.
The use you may make of Images published on this website is governed by Annex A to our Terms and Conditions.
