This Privacy Notice (updated 6/2/25) describes what you can expect from us in the context of data protection.
When you book on our events you will also agree to our Booking Terms and Conditions.
Who we are
The legal structure of the central Buddhafield body is a private limited company that has charitable status:
Triratna Buddhafield, UK registered charity No. 1108826
We live all over the UK, and come together to run a programme of camping activities, focused around the teaching and practise of Buddhism and Buddhist meditation.
Buddhafield organises its work using a decentralised Mandate system. Each area of work is separated out and devolved responsibility for decision-making is given to a Mandate Holder.
Data Protection
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is based on the principles of lawfulness, fairness, and transparency and these are central to the formation of our policies and procedures for using personal data.
Our lawful basis for data processing under the GDPR is 'legitimate interests', meaning that we will only ever use your data in 'non-intrusive ways' that you 'would reasonably expect'. Specifically, our primary interest in using your personal information is to contact you about our activities.
Special category data is personal data which the GDPR says is more sensitive, and so needs more protection. Information about religion and health are classified as special category data. You may have provided information about your religion (such as by indicating that you are a member of Triratna Buddhist Order) or your health (such as by describing dietary requirements which we need when catering for you). We will only process special category data in compliance with the conditions (a, d, or e) set out in paragraph 2 of GDPR Article 9.
If you've supplied us with any personal information and you'd like to know what we have recorded for you, or if you'd like to be removed from our records, then please contact us.
Your personal information, how we receive it and what we do with it
We receive personal data through three websites/services:
- Our own website (bookings and contact)
- MailChimp (newsletter and mailing list)
- Eventree (volunteers and contributors)
Bookings and Contact
We receive the personal information that you provide when booking for a retreat or event, or when contacting us through www.buddhafield.com. We need that information both to process your booking or message, and to communicate with you about it.
If you chose to opt-in to our email newsletter during the booking process then your name and email address will also be added in our MailChimp account.
Mailing List
We use the MailChimp platform for sending emails. You can view their privacy policy here. MailChimp makes it easy for you to subscribe and unsubscribe from our mailing list; for example there is an unsubscribe link at the foot of each email sent.
Volunteers and Contributors
Personal data for some of our events is managed through Eventree, and you can view their privacy policy here.
If you are invited to volunteer at an event you may be asked to complete a ‘health and wellbeing questionnaire’ asking you for emergency contact details plus questions about any allergies or medical conditions which may affect your work with us. These data will be used only in relation to your stay onsite as a volunteer at our event(s). We will periodically delete all ‘health and wellbeing’.
Data archiving and retention
We are obligated to retain some data for up to seven years, in relation to some of our events. Historical records are kept separate from data pertaining to current and recent events.
We do not pass your information on to anyone else.
We will not pass on your information to other organisations.
We will not divulge your personal information to anyone else.
Please do not ask us for personal information about someone other than yourself. Requests for information about anyone other than yourself will be denied: even if we know you and/or the data subject personally. It would be inappropriate to use information held in our databases for interpersonal connections.
Photographs
When we're taking photographs for publicity purposes, we do our best to ask the permission of the subject beforehand. Unfortunately that's not always possible at our (or any other) festival. To that end, there's a condition on the purchase of a Buddhafield Festival ticket that we reserve the right to use photographs featuring attenders. That said, please get in touch if you're unhappy about an image of yourself on this website or our own Flickr, Facebook, or Instagram accounts.
Please don't take images from this website and use them for your own purposes without asking the copyright holder first (even if it's you in the photograph!).
Cookies
Our website uses ‘cookies’ to store information on your computer while navigating the site.
Some of these are essential to the functioning of the website, such as holding information needed when you use the Shopping Basket.
We also use non-essential cookies to anonymously track page visits with Google Analytics. Pages that include embedded content (such as video from Vimeo) will use cookies from the content provider. In the case of a video from vimeo.com, their cookies enable such things as knowing if you have logged in to their service.
If you're not happy with these cookies, you can use your browser settings to control them.