Privacy notice
This notice explains what personal information Creative Escape collects when you use this website, book a workshop, sign up for emails or get in touch, what we do with it, who helps us look after it, and your rights.
Who we are
Creative Escape is run by Caroline Stokes, trading as Creative Escape, in Hassocks, West Sussex. When this notice says “we”, it means Creative Escape. We’re responsible for (the “controller” of) the personal information described here. If you have any questions, or want to use any of your rights below, email hello@creativeescapeworkshops.co.uk.
When you book a workshop
When you book online, we collect:
- your name and email address
- the workshop and date you book, and how many places
- what you paid, how you paid and any refunds
- your answer to “Hear about new workshops by email?”
We use this to manage your booking, send your confirmation, email you a few days before with directions and anything you need to know, let you know if anything changes, and keep our accounts. We do this because it’s needed for the booking you’ve asked for, and because we’re legally required to keep financial records.
You fill in your details and pay on Stripe’s secure checkout page, so Stripe keeps them as part of its record of your payment. Your card number goes straight to Stripe and we never see it. Stripe also uses some payment information to prevent fraud, as explained in Stripe’s privacy policy.
If you book with us directly (by email, in person, or by paying by bank transfer or Tide), we record your name, email address, phone number if you give one, your booking and how you paid in our booking system. If a date’s “Book now” button takes you to another payment page, such as PayPal, that company handles your payment under its own privacy policy.
We also keep a simple record for each customer, showing the workshops you’ve booked and any notes we’ve made to help us look after you next time, but never allergies or health information, which only go on your booking. We do this because we have a legitimate interest in knowing our regular customers.
Allergies, health and access needs
Your confirmation email invites you to reply with any allergies, health or access needs. Health information is extra-sensitive under data protection law, so we only have it if you choose to tell us. By telling us, you’re giving us your explicit consent to use it to look after you on the day. We add it to your booking’s notes, and you can withdraw your consent at any time by emailing hello@creativeescapeworkshops.co.uk, and we’ll delete it. If someone else in your group has allergies, health or access needs, it’s best if they tell us themselves by emailing hello@creativeescapeworkshops.co.uk, so they’re the one agreeing to us using it.
If someone else books for you
If a friend books a place for you, we usually only get their details. If they tell us your name, we only use it to run the workshop, because we have a legitimate interest in knowing who’s coming, and keep it as described below. If you’re booking for others, please let them know and point them to this page.
When you sign up for emails
If you sign up on the website, say yes when you book, or ask us in person, we send you an email to confirm. You’re only added to the newsletter once you confirm. We keep your email address (and your name, if you gave it to us), and a record of when and how you signed up and confirmed, so we can show you agreed. If you joined our list before we moved to Resend, you signed up through Mailchimp, the email service we used before. We moved your details across, kept Mailchimp’s record of when you signed up, and deleted the list from Mailchimp.
We email you about new workshops and dates because you’ve said we can. You can unsubscribe at any time using the link at the bottom of every newsletter, or by emailing hello@creativeescapeworkshops.co.uk, and we’ll take you off the list.
If we have your first name, the newsletter uses it to say hello. We don’t track whether you open our emails or click the links in them. Past newsletters can be read on our website by anyone with the link, but those copies don’t contain your name or anything else about you.
When you get in touch
The contact form sends your name, email address, phone number (if you give one), topic and message to our inbox by email, using Resend, so we can reply. The website itself doesn’t keep a copy. If you’re asking about booking a workshop or a private event, we use it because you’ve asked us to take steps before a booking. Otherwise, it’s because we have a legitimate interest in answering questions about our workshops.
Photos and reviews
We share photos from our workshops on this website and on Instagram, and some may show people taking part. We do this because we have a legitimate interest in showing people what our workshops are like. If you’d rather not be in photos, just tell us on the day. If you send us a review, we may show it on the website with your first name and the workshop you came to. If you’d rather a photo of you or your review wasn’t on the website or Instagram, email hello@creativeescapeworkshops.co.uk and we’ll take it down.
When you visit the website
Our hosting provider keeps standard server logs (such as your IP address, browser and the pages requested) for a short time. We do this because we have a legitimate interest in keeping the website secure and working.
We don’t use analytics or advertising cookies. The only optional thing on the site is the Google Map of the venue on some workshop pages, which sets Google’s cookies. It only loads if you tap “Show map”, and we remember that choice for all our maps for a year. You can change your mind any time with “Hide map” under the map. If you do, we stop loading the map, but you’ll need to clear any cookies Google has already set in your browser settings. See Google’s privacy policy for how Google uses them.
We also set a small cookie to remember your map choice, and a sign-in cookie for our private admin area. Stripe’s checkout page sets its own cookies to process payments and prevent fraud.
Who helps us look after it
We use these companies to run the website and our bookings. Most of them only use your information to provide their service to us. Stripe also uses some of it for its own fraud checks, and Google and Instagram use what they collect under their own privacy policies:
- Stripe — runs our checkout page, takes card payments and refunds, and keeps the details you enter there
- Google Cloud (Firebase) — stores our booking and customer records, and our records of newsletter sign-ups, in London. It also handles the Google sign-in for our admin area.
- Resend — sends all the website’s emails (booking confirmations and changes, emails before your workshop, messages from the contact form, our new-booking alerts, newsletter sign-up confirmations and the newsletter itself) and holds the newsletter list
- Our email provider — runs the inbox where your emails, contact-form messages and booking alerts arrive
- Vercel — hosts the website
- Sanity — holds the website’s content, such as workshops, photos, reviews and the newsletters we write. It doesn’t hold any booking or contact-form details, or anything about the people on our newsletter list.
- Google Maps — shows venue maps, only if you allow it
- Instagram — where we share photos from our workshops
We never sell your information or share it with anyone for their own marketing.
Some of these companies, including Stripe, Resend and Vercel, are based in the United States, so some of your information is handled there. Where that happens, it’s protected by the UK–US data bridge or by the UK’s approved international data transfer terms. Email hello@creativeescapeworkshops.co.uk if you’d like more details.
How long we keep it
- Bookings, payments and customer records: six years after your workshop, because we have to keep financial records for tax.
- Allergies, health and access needs: we don’t need these for tax, so we delete them from our booking notes, any attendee lists we’ve printed or downloaded, and our emails within three months of your workshop, or sooner if you ask.
- Newsletter: we email you until you unsubscribe. After that we keep your email address marked as unsubscribed, along with the record of when you signed up, so we don’t email you by mistake and can show you agreed. If you’d rather we deleted it completely, just ask.
- Newsletter sign-ups you didn’t confirm: we keep a note of your email address and when you asked for a month, so the sign-up form can’t be used to flood your inbox, then delete it automatically (or sooner if you ask).
- Messages from the contact form: in our inbox up to two years after we last hear from you, in case you get in touch again or go on to book, then deleted (or sooner if you ask).
Your rights
You can ask us to:
- give you a copy of the information we hold about you
- correct anything that’s wrong
- delete your information, unless we have to keep it (for example for tax)
- limit how we use it
- give you your information in a format you can take elsewhere
You can also object to us using your information where we rely on our legitimate interests, such as your customer record, photos of you or replies to your enquiries. We’ll stop unless we have a strong reason to carry on, such as needing your booking for our tax records.
Where we use your information because you agreed, such as for the newsletter or your allergy notes, you can withdraw that at any time. Email hello@creativeescapeworkshops.co.uk and we’ll reply within a month.
If you’re unhappy with how we’ve handled your information, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or on 0303 123 1113. We’d appreciate the chance to put things right first, though.
Do you have to give us this information?
To book a workshop we need your name and email address, so we can confirm your place and reach you if something changes. Signing up for emails, and telling us anything extra, is always optional. We don’t make any decisions about you automatically.
Changes to this notice
If we change how we use your information, we’ll update this page before we make the change.