What happens to your details.

You control what you tell us, and this page says plainly what happens to it.

Who is responsible

Holybees is a sole trader based in the London Borough of Hounslow. For data protection purposes the trader named in the footer is the data controller. Questions, corrections or requests go to the contact address in the footer, and are answered by a person, not a helpdesk.

What is collected when you sponsor a bee

Your name and email address, so the sponsorship can be confirmed and the card sent. A display name if you choose to appear on the show bench. If the sponsorship is a gift, the recipient's name and email so the card can be sent to them, plus any message you write for them. If it is in memory of somebody, the name you give.

Payments are handled entirely by Stripe. Card numbers never reach this site and are never stored here. What is kept is the reference Stripe gives back, so a payment can be matched to a sponsorship and refunded if needed.

What is collected if you ask for apiary emails

Your email address and name, the exact wording of the consent you agreed to, the time you agreed, and the IP address it came from. That last one exists so it can be proven the consent was real if anyone ever asks. Ticking that box is optional and a sponsorship works exactly the same without it.

What it is used for

Confirming your sponsorship and sending your card. Sending the monthly apiary email and renewal reminders for as long as your sponsorship runs. Answering you if you get in touch. If you asked for apiary emails, sending those until you stop them.

Nothing is sold, rented or passed to anybody for marketing. Ever.

Who else sees it

Stripe, for taking payment. The company that sends the site's email, which handles delivery only. The web host, in the ordinary course of running a server. Each of these processes the data on instruction and for no purpose of its own.

The show bench

Names appear on the public show bench only if you tick the box asking for it. Leave it unticked and you never appear. Ask at any time and you will be taken off, usually the same day.

How long it is kept

Sponsorship and payment records are kept for six years, because tax law requires it. Marketing consent records are kept while you are subscribed and for a short period afterwards, so it can be shown you were removed when you asked. Everything else is deleted when it is no longer needed.

Your rights

You can ask what is held about you, ask for it to be corrected, ask for it to be deleted, ask for a copy in a portable form, or object to how it is used. There is no charge and no form to fill in. Write to the contact address in the footer.

Every marketing email has a one click unsubscribe, which works immediately. You do not have to explain yourself.

If you think your data has been mishandled you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk. Raising it here first is welcome but not required.

Cookies and measurement

This site sets no advertising cookies and does no tracking for advertising. If visitor statistics are switched on, they are used only to see which pages people read.

Photographs

Photographs are sometimes taken at open days. If you or your children would rather not appear, say so to whoever is holding the camera and that is the end of it.

Last updated August 2026. Questions go to buzz@holybees.co.uk.