Privacy Policy

1. Who We Are

my widowed friends is a UK-based service providing structured social groups for widowed people.

my widowed friends is the trading name of My Widowed Friends Ltd, which is the data controller for the personal data described in this policy.

Contact details

Email: andrea@mywidowedfriends.co.uk

Member and public queries: molly@mywidowedfriends.co.uk (see Section 4)

Website: www.mywidowedfriends.co.uk

2. Our Commitment to Privacy

mwf is a social membership network. We are committed to protecting your privacy and keeping your personal information safe. We design our systems and communications to be:

• clear and transparent
• minimal — we collect only what we need
• respectful — no selling of data, no third-party marketing
• predictable — no unexpected use of personal information

We recognise that joining a new social group, particularly for the first time, can feel like a big step, and some members may be approaching this at a sensitive time in their lives. We take this into account when designing and handling our data practices, while remaining a social organisation rather than a support or counselling service.

We will always ask before collecting personal information about you. Personal information means any information that could be used to identify you.

We do not sell personal data, and we do not share personal data with third parties for marketing purposes.

We comply with UK data protection legislation, including the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018.

This policy applies to:

• members of my widowed friends
• people enquiring about membership
• users of our website and services

3. What Personal Data We Collect

3.1 Data You Provide

When you join or contact us, we may collect:

• name
• email address
• mobile phone number
• postal address
• confirmation that you are widowed
• the year in which you were widowed
• your age group (in 10-year bands rather than exact age)
• payment and subscription details

You are not required to provide personal histories, medical details, or detailed information about your bereavement beyond what is necessary to confirm eligibility and operate the service safely.

3.2 Data Generated Through Use of the Service

In operating my widowed friends, we may generate:

• membership status and dates
• attendance responses (for example yes/no replies)
• records of emails and SMS messages sent and received

We do not record medical information or detailed personal circumstances.

3.3 Website and Technical Data

When you visit our website, we may collect:

• pages viewed and links clicked
• time spent on the site
• standard technical data such as IP address and browser type
• analytics data collected via cookies or similar technologies

Our website uses analytics tools to help us understand how the site is used, so we can improve its performance and content. You can control or disable cookies through your browser settings; doing so may affect how parts of the website work.

4. How and Why We Use Your Data

We use personal data to:

• manage memberships and renewals
• send essential service communications (such as joining information and meeting reminders)
• monitor attendance so that groups run safely and no one attends alone unexpectedly
• operate payment and financial records
• respond to enquiries, complaints, or requests
• meet legal and regulatory obligations
• draft and manage communications with the help of AI tools, under human oversight
• respond directly to routine member and public queries through our AI assistant, Molly, under human oversight

We do not use personal data for behavioural profiling, advertising, resale, or automated decision-making.

Molly, our AI assistant

Molly answers most day-to-day queries sent by email or through the website contact form. Molly can see the information reasonably needed to answer your query. If a query needs a human response, or if something concerning is disclosed, it is passed to the Founder, who remains responsible for the outcome (see our Safeguarding Policy). Conversations with Molly are logged in the same way as other service communications and retained in line with our Data Retention and Deletion Policy.

Use of Year Widowed and Age Group

We use the year you were widowed to help us run groups in a considerate way.

We use age-group information (in 10-year bands) to:

• give members a general sense of the typical age range of a group
• confirm eligibility for groups intended for younger widowed members

We do not share exact ages or the year someone was widowed with other members, and this information is not used for profiling or automated decisions.

5. Lawful Basis for Processing

We process personal data under UK GDPR using the following lawful bases:

• Contract – for membership administration and meeting arrangements
• Legitimate interests – for essential service communications, attendance and meeting reliability systems, and incident recording
• Legal obligation – for financial and taxation records
• Consent – for optional communications

Where consent is used, it can be withdrawn at any time.

6. Special Category Data

We do not routinely collect special category data (such as health or mental health information).

If special category data is disclosed voluntarily (for example in correspondence), it is:

• not recorded unless strictly necessary
• treated with additional care
• access-restricted

7. Email and SMS Communications

We use email and SMS for operational purposes only, including:

• joining information
• meeting details and reminders
• meeting cancellation notices
• essential service updates

We do not send third-party marketing messages.

Our communication systems may record basic technical information such as delivery status, message opens, or link clicks. This is used only to confirm that essential messages are being received and to improve reliability.

8. Sharing Your Data

8.1 Service Providers

We use carefully selected service providers to operate my widowed friends, including:

• Brevo – email communications and member administration
• ClickSend – SMS attendance and meeting reminders
• Stripe – payment processing
• Claude AI (Anthropic) – used, under human oversight, to help draft and manage communications, support administrative tasks, and to power Molly, our AI assistant, who responds directly to routine member and public queries

These providers act as data processors on our instructions. We do not sell or share personal data for marketing.

8.2 Membership Subscriptions and Payments

Payments are processed securely by Stripe. We do not receive or store full card details. Stripe may process some data as an independent data controller for fraud prevention, security, and legal compliance.

9. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes described in this policy. Retention periods vary depending on the type of data and its purpose, and range from 12 months (for example, interest register entries) up to 10 years (for example, financial and membership cancellation records, safeguarding details).

Full details of retention periods for each type of data are set out in our Data Retention and Deletion Policy.

10. Your Rights

You have the right to:

• access your personal data
• request correction of inaccurate data
• request deletion where legally possible
• object to certain processing
• withdraw consent where consent is used

Requests should be made by email. We respond within statutory time limits (normally within one month).

11. Membership Boundaries

my widowed friends provides social connection, not counselling, therapy, or crisis support.

Members are never required to share personal or emotional details. We do not monitor wellbeing beyond what is necessary to run safe, well-managed groups.

12. Data Security

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data, including:

• password-protected systems
• access controls
• reputable third-party service providers

While we take all reasonable precautions, data transmitted over the internet can never be guaranteed to be completely secure. You can help protect your data by keeping your own devices up to date.

13. International Transfers

Some service providers may process personal data outside the UK. Where this occurs, appropriate safeguards are in place, such as UK adequacy regulations or approved contractual protections.

14. Changes to This Policy

This policy may be updated from time to time. The current version will always be available on our website.