Privacy Policy

Last updated 21 October 2026

Shree Swaminarayan Mandir Oldham ("the Mandir", "we", "us") runs this website, www.oldhammandir.faith. This policy explains what personal information we collect when you use the site, why we collect it, how long we keep it and the rights you have over it. We follow the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018.

Who we are

The Mandir is the data controller for the information described below. For any question about your personal information, or to exercise any of the rights listed at the end of this policy, write to the address above or email Info@oldhammandir.faith with "Privacy" in the subject line.

What we collect, and why

Visiting the website

Our website is hosted by Hostinger. Like every website host, its servers keep standard access logs that record the internet address (IP address) of each visitor, the pages requested, the time of the request and the type of browser used. These logs exist to keep the site running and secure and to diagnose faults. We do not use them to identify individual visitors.

We do not use analytics or advertising cookies, and we do not track you across other websites.

Registering for an event

When you register for an event through the form on an event page we store your name, your email address, your phone number if you give one, the number of guests you are bringing, any notes you add, the event you registered for and the time you registered. We use this to manage attendance, to send you a confirmation email with a link to cancel, and, where an event has a waiting list, to let you know if a place becomes available. We process these details because they are needed to provide the registration you asked for.

The organisers of an event see your name, how many guests you are bringing and whether you have a place. Your contact details and notes are visible only to the people the Mandir has given access to the attendee list, and the site records who has downloaded that list.

Registrations are deleted automatically six months after the event has taken place. Registrations for regular recurring activities, such as the daily aarti, are deleted six months after they were made. You can cancel a registration at any time with the link in your confirmation email, or by contacting us.

Event notifications

If you subscribe to event notifications we store your email address and name so that we can email you when a new event is announced. A subscription only becomes active after you confirm it using the link we send you, and every notification contains a link to unsubscribe. Sign-ups that are not confirmed are removed after seven days. We keep your subscription until you unsubscribe or ask us to remove it.

Protecting the forms

To protect the registration and subscription forms from abuse we keep a short-lived record derived from the network address used to submit them. It is discarded automatically within an hour.

Contacting us

If you email or telephone us we keep your message and contact details for as long as we need them to answer you and to keep a record of the correspondence.

Volunteer accounts

Volunteers who help to run the website have their own login. For each volunteer we hold a name, an email address and a password, which is stored in encrypted form, together with a record of the content they publish. To protect accounts, the site counts failed sign-in attempts from each internet address; the address is kept in hashed form for at most twenty minutes and then deleted automatically. Volunteer accounts are removed when a person stops volunteering.

Photographs and video

We publish photographs of the murtis for daily darshan and photographs and video of festivals and events at the Mandir. Some of these show members of the congregation and visitors. If you appear in a photograph or video on this site and would like it removed, tell us and we will take it down.

The daily darshan page can show a live stream from the Mandir's YouTube channel. The stream is provided by YouTube, and watching it is subject to Google's privacy policy (see "Other companies" below).

Donations

Donations are made through PayPal. We do not receive or store your card or bank details. PayPal processes your payment under its own privacy policy and tells us the donor's name, the amount and, where you choose to give it, your email address, so that we can thank you and keep the Mandir's accounts.

Our social media posts

The site shows a copy of the posts published on the Mandir's own Facebook Page and Instagram account. These copies are stored on our server, and viewing them sends nothing to Meta. If you follow a "View on Facebook" or "View on Instagram" link you leave our site and Meta's privacy policy applies.

Translation

The language button on each page offers a machine translation of the site through GTranslate, which uses Google Translate. When you choose a language, a cookie named "googtrans" remembers your choice and the page text is sent to Google for translation. Nothing is sent until you choose a language.

Cookies

A cookie is a small file that a website stores in your browser. This site sets cookies only where they are needed:

• Volunteer sign-in. When a volunteer signs in, WordPress sets cookies that keep them signed in and remember their settings. Visitors who do not sign in receive none of these.
• Translation. Choosing a language sets the "googtrans" cookie described above. It is removed when you switch back to English or clear your cookies.
• YouTube and Google Maps. Playing a video, or choosing "Show map" on an event page, loads content from Google, which may set its own cookies. The map is not loaded until you ask for it.

We do not set analytics, advertising or social-media tracking cookies. You can delete cookies, or refuse them, in your browser's settings; the site will still work, but you would need to sign in again or choose a language again. Our cookies policy lists every cookie by name.

Other companies that process data for us

• Hostinger hosts the website and sends the emails the site generates, such as registration confirmations.
• Google provides the YouTube player on the daily darshan page, the map on event pages once you choose to show it, the "Add to Google Calendar" link, the translation service behind the language button, and some of the icons used in the site's header, which are loaded from Google Fonts. Each of these sends your IP address to Google when it loads.
• Meta Platforms (Facebook and Instagram) receives nothing from your visit unless you follow a link to the Mandir's pages there.
• PayPal processes donations.

We do not sell personal information and we do not share it with anyone else, except where the law requires us to.

How long we keep information

• Event registrations: six months after the event, then deleted automatically.
• Event notification subscriptions: until you unsubscribe or ask us to remove you; unconfirmed sign-ups after seven days.
• Records used to protect the forms and the sign-in page: at most one hour and twenty minutes respectively.
• Volunteer accounts: while the person volunteers.
• Correspondence: for as long as it is needed to deal with your enquiry and keep a record of it.
• Server access logs: for the period set by our host for security and fault-finding.

Keeping information safe

The site is served only over an encrypted connection (HTTPS). Access to registrations and volunteer tools is limited to the people the Mandir has authorised, protected by passwords and a lockout after repeated failed sign-ins, and the site records who downloads attendee lists.

Children

Some of our events, such as Bal Mandal and Yuvak Mandal, are for children and young people. A parent or guardian should register a child for an event and should be the person whose contact details are given.

Your rights

Under data protection law you have the right to:

• ask for a copy of the personal information we hold about you;
• ask us to correct information that is wrong or incomplete;
• ask us to delete your information;
• ask us to stop or limit how we use your information;
• object to our use of your information;
• receive the information you gave us in a form you can pass to someone else;
• withdraw consent at any time where we rely on it, for example by unsubscribing from event notifications.

To use any of these rights, email Info@oldhammandir.faith or write to the address above. We will reply within one month. There is no charge.

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office, the UK's data protection regulator: ico.org.uk, telephone 0303 123 1113, or by post to Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

Changes to this policy

If we change how we use personal information we will update this page and change the date at the top. Significant changes will be announced on the website.