Privacy, Photos and Credits

Who we are

Leamington Marathi is a volunteer-run, non-profit community group for Marathi families in Leamington Spa and Warwick, UK. We are in the process of registering as a charity (a CIO). For this website, we decide how your details are used, so under UK data protection law we are the data controller.

To contact us about anything on this page, email leamingtonmarathi@gmail.com.

What we collect

We only collect what you choose to send us:

• Get Involved form: your name, email, what you would like to do, and, if you add them, your mobile number and a comment.
• Contact form: your name, email and message.
• Membership (when sign-up opens): your name and email.

We do not use tracking cookies, analytics or adverts on this website, and we do not build profiles of visitors.

How we use it

• To reply to your message.
• To do what you asked: for example, add you to the WhatsApp group, put you in touch with the Dhol Tasha Pathak, or send you event updates.
• To keep a record of our members, once membership opens.

Our legal basis under the UK GDPR is your consent (you sent us the details for that purpose) and our legitimate interest in answering messages and running community events. You can withdraw your consent at any time.

We never sell your details, and we never pass them to anyone for marketing.

Who handles it for us

We use a few trusted services to run the website. They only handle your details to provide their service to us:

• FormSubmit (formsubmit.co) passes form messages on to our email inbox.
• Google: our inbox is Gmail; the website's fonts load from Google Fonts, which means your browser contacts Google; and member sign-up will use Google Firebase.
• GitHub hosts this website and, like all web hosts, keeps standard technical logs of visits (such as IP addresses) for security.

Some of these services store data outside the UK. They use the standard legal safeguards for international transfers.

How long we keep it

We keep your details only for as long as we need them for the reason you gave them, and no longer than 2 years after we last hear from you. If you ask us to delete them sooner, we will.

Your rights

Under the UK GDPR you have the right to:

• ask for a copy of the details we hold about you;
• ask us to correct them, or to delete them;
• object to how we use them, or ask us to limit it;
• withdraw your consent at any time.

Email leamingtonmarathi@gmail.com and we will reply within one month. If you are not happy with how we handled your details, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO): ico.org.uk or 0303 123 1113.

What the website stores on your device

The website does not set cookies. It stores a few small settings in your browser so it works better: whether you closed the "Add to your phone" banner, and saved copies of pages so the site opens with a poor signal or offline. Nothing is sent to us. You can remove them at any time by clearing this site's data in your browser settings.

Diwali Bhet 2026 Photo Booth

Our optional, free Diwali photo booth runs inside your own ChatGPT conversation. You upload your photo to ChatGPT; the plugin supplies editing instructions and our official logo. It does not provide a separate community photo-upload service or send your conversation or images to Leamington Marathi.

OpenAI processes your uploads, prompts and generated images under its privacy policy and your ChatGPT account settings. Chat history, retention, deletion and any use to improve models are controlled by OpenAI and your settings; Leamington Marathi cannot promise automatic deletion or change those settings for you.

Upload only photos you have permission to use, with permission from the people pictured. Do not include sensitive information. Download your result yourself. We do not automatically receive or publish your photo or result.

If you email us for help, we receive your email address, message and any attachments you choose to send. Avoid attaching personal photos unless needed. We use support messages to answer your request under the contact and retention practices above. Requests about data held in your ChatGPT account should be made through OpenAI; requests about information you sent us can be emailed to leamingtonmarathi@gmail.com.

Photos, videos and credits

Most photos and videos on this website were taken at our own events by members and volunteers, and are shared with our members' permission. We only publish photos of children with a parent's permission.

Where we use someone else's photo, video or map, we name them. We would like to thank:

• Swad Safar Official, Pune: the Pandharpur Wari video on the आपला महाराष्ट्र page.
• Moments Capture 05: the Shivneri fort photo.
• Wikimedia Commons: the Maharashtra map outline is traced from its Maharashtra districts map (licence CC BY-SA).
• Our members, who shared the fort photos on the आपला महाराष्ट्र page. Where we know who took a photo, we name them next to it.
• Diwali Ank writers and artists, who are credited by name inside the दिवाळी अंक.
• Our sponsors: their names and logos belong to them and are shown with their permission.

Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp and YouTube names and logos belong to their owners and are used only to link to our pages there.

Ask us to credit or remove something

If you are in a photo or video and would like it taken down, if you see your own work here and would like it credited differently or removed, or if you would like your details deleted, email leamingtonmarathi@gmail.com. Tell us which page and which photo or detail. We will act within 7 days.