Last updated: 24 September 2026
Who we are
Folk Calendar (folkcalendar.com) is run by Sam & Albert’s Limited, Palmerston Street, Plymouth, PL1 5LJ. We are responsible for the personal data described here. If you have any question about it, or want to use any of your rights below, email info@folkcalendar.com.
We have tried to write this for people who are neither lawyers nor developers. In short: you can browse the whole site without giving us anything, we only count visits if you say yes, and we will not send you marketing unless you have asked for it.
Browsing the site
You do not need an account to find events, read listings or use the map. Like every website, our server receives your IP address and browser details when you visit, and our web host keeps these in short-lived server logs for security.
Analytics (only if you say yes)
We use Google Analytics to count visits and see which pages are used, so we know what to improve. It runs only if you choose “Allow analytics” when we ask. If you do, Google Analytics sets cookies in your browser and receives the pages you visit, roughly where you are, and details of your browser and device. It uses your IP address to work out that rough location and does not store it. We see only totals, never who you are.
If you choose “No thanks”, no analytics cookies are set. Google may still receive a signal that a page was viewed with analytics refused, with no cookies and nothing that identifies you.
Your choice is kept in your own browser, not on our server, so we ask again if you use a different browser or clear your browser’s data. You can change your mind at any time with the “Cookie settings” link at the foot of every page, or here:
Advertising
Folk Calendar is paid for by advertising. The adverts you see now are placed by us, for folk clubs, events and businesses, and they do not track you.
We may also use advertising services such as Google Ads or the Meta (Facebook and Instagram) pixel, to show our own adverts to people who have visited the site and to measure whether they work. These set cookies and send the pages you visit to the advertising company. We will not turn any of them on for you unless you agree, and this is a separate choice from analytics: you can allow one, both or neither. Before we start using any such service we will update this page to name it.
Maps
The maps are made of images that your browser fetches from OpenStreetMap (tile.openstreetmap.org). Like any website, their server sees your IP address and which part of the map you are looking at. It sets no cookies.
Searching by postcode or place
When you search for a postcode or a place, our server looks it up with postcodes.io or with OpenStreetMap’s Nominatim service. They see what you typed, but the request comes from us, not from you, so they do not see who you are. We keep the answer for a month so the same search does not have to be asked again.
Saving events
If you save an event with the star before signing in, the list is kept only in your own browser and never reaches us. If you are signed in, we keep a note of what you saved so it is waiting for you next time. That list is yours alone: it is never published and nobody else can see it.
Adding and looking after listings
When you add a listing, claim one, or suggest a change to one, we keep the email address and name you give us and whatever you wrote. We use your address to send you a link to sign in, to tell you when your listing is approved or commented on, and to reply to you.
There are no passwords on this site. Signing in works by emailing you a one-time link. We store that link only in a scrambled form that cannot be turned back into the link, and it stops working once used or after an hour. Once you are signed in, a cookie keeps you signed in; it is removed when you sign out.
If you look after a listing, we record that it is yours so you can manage it. We never publish your email address, and organisers have no public profile page. Any contact details you choose to put on a listing are published, because that is what they are for.
If you confirm that a listing is right, or report a problem with one, your name and the date appear on that listing’s page with anything you wrote, so readers can see how recently somebody checked it.
To stop our forms being used to send unwanted email, we keep a short count against the address a form was sent from. It holds nothing but a number and is discarded within the hour. Our forms may also be protected by Cloudflare Turnstile: when you open a form, your browser loads a check from Cloudflare, which sees your IP address and some details of your browser in order to tell people from automated programs. It is used for nothing else.
Comments
When you leave a comment we keep what you wrote, the name and email address you give, and your IP address and browser details to help catch spam. Your name and comment are published; your email address is not. The first comment from a new address waits for us to approve it.
A scrambled string made from your email address (a “hash”) may be sent to the Gravatar service to see if you have a profile picture there. If you do, it appears next to your comment. Gravatar’s privacy policy is at automattic.com/privacy.
If you tick the box when commenting, your name and email address are saved in cookies in your browser for a year, so you do not have to type them again.
Why we use your data (our lawful bases)
- Running listings, sign-in and comments you ask for: to provide the service you have asked us for.
- Preventing spam and abuse, and keeping the site secure: our legitimate interest in keeping the site working and trustworthy.
- Showing who confirmed or reported a listing: our legitimate interest, and readers’, in knowing how current a listing is.
- Analytics, advertising cookies, and any news or offers you ask for: your consent, which you can withdraw at any time.
Who else sees your data
The emails we send you about your listings, comments and sign-in are part of the service, not marketing. We will only send you news or offers, from us or anyone else, if you have ticked a box asking for them, and every such email will let you stop them in one click. We will not pass your details to another organisation for its own marketing without your separate, specific agreement.
The only other organisations involved are the ones named above (Google, OpenStreetMap, postcodes.io, Cloudflare and Gravatar) and our web hosting provider, which stores the site and sends its emails. Google, Cloudflare and Automattic (Gravatar) may process data in the United States, under the safeguards UK law requires for international transfers.
How long we keep it
- Sign-in links: one hour, or until used.
- Your account, and the listings you look after: until you ask us to delete them.
- Claims and suggested changes: kept as a record of how a listing came to say what it says, and deleted if you ask.
- Confirmations and reports: kept with the listing, because they are about the listing. If you ask us to erase your data, they stay but no longer show your name.
- Comments: kept until you ask us to remove them.
- Analytics: kept by Google for two months, then only as anonymous totals.
- The anti-spam count: under an hour. Place search answers: a month, and they contain nothing about you.
Your rights
You can ask us for a copy of the personal data we hold about you, to correct it, or to erase it. You can also object to how we use it, or ask us to restrict it. Email info@folkcalendar.com and we will reply within a month. If you ask us to erase your data, any listing you look after stays on the site but stops being recorded as yours, because other people rely on knowing the event is on.
If you are unhappy with how we have handled your data, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk. We would appreciate the chance to put it right first.
Changes
If we change how we use personal data, we will update this page and the date at the top.