Privacy
Lewisham Choral Society (LCS) is a not-for-profit registered charity (1040570). We handle personal information in accordance with UK data protection and privacy law.
Your Data
If you contact us through our site we’ll keep the information you provide for the purpose of replying to you. We won’t add you to a mailing list or send you email marketing unless you specifically tell us to.
We use a secure mailing service called MailChimp to email those who have asked to be kept informed about our concerts and events. We will email you timely and relevant information and you can tell us at any time if you no longer want to receive emails from us. MailChimp uses servers in the USA and has certified its compliance with the EU-US Privacy Shield Framework so that personal information transferred to the USA is protected.
If you have an account and you log in to this site, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser. When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days and screen option cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.
Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has separately visited the other website. These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.
This website is hosted by Squarespace and we use their analytics software.
Your Rights
If you have created an account on this site, we store the personal information provided in your user profile. You can edit your information and cancel your memberships at any time. Website administrators cannot change this information, but they can remove any subscriptions you sign up to.
If you would like your account to be deleted, please email Squarespace at privacy@squarespace.com as Squarespace does not allow website administrators to delete accounts. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.
We do not share your data with any other organisations.
Safeguarding
Lewisham Choral Society (LCS) believes that a child, young person or vulnerable adult should never experience abuse of any kind. We recognise that we have a responsibility to promote the welfare of all children, young people and vulnerable adults. We are committed to safeguarding the well-being of all children, young people and vulnerable adults we come into contact with and to protecting them from harm.
Our Policy
This policy applies to all members, staff - whether employees or freelancers, volunteers and anyone working on behalf of LCS or anyone taking part in a choir activity.
The purpose of this policy is to provide members, staff and volunteers with the overarching principles that guide our approach to the protection of vulnerable people.
This policy recognises vulnerable people as:
Children up to the age of 16 or young people aged 16-18
Adults aged over 18 defined as vulnerable by the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 and the Care Act 2014. This might include adults with a learning or physical disability, a physical or mental illness, chronic or otherwise, including an addiction to alcohol or drugs, or reduced physical or mental capacity
This policy aims to:
Protect children, young people and vulnerable adults who are members of, receive services from, or volunteer for LCS
Ensure members, staff and volunteers working with children, young people and vulnerable adults understand and accept responsibility for the safeguarding of those vulnerable individuals they are interacting with
Ensure that safeguarding of children, young people and vulnerable adults is a primary consideration when LCS undertakes any activity, event or project
This policy will be reviewed and amended (if necessary) on an annual basis by the board of trustees of LCS. It will also be reviewed in response to changes in relevant legislation, good practice, or in response to an identified failing in its effectiveness.
Working with Vulnerable People
Membership is open to those over 18 years of age, and we run regular rehearsals for members and put on concerts for the general public. As such our involvement with vulnerable people might include, but is not limited to:
Members of the group who attend rehearsals and concerts
Relatives and friends of members who attend rehearsals and concerts in a volunteering capacity
Audience members at public concerts
The activities carried out by LCS indicate that we have a low level of involvement with vulnerable people (as defined above). However, there may be specific occasions when activities could involve vulnerable people, and therefore our established procedures and ground rules (see below) show how LCS would prepare for and implement its responsibilities for safeguarding in such circumstances.
Named Safeguarding Person
Our chair Brenda Scanlan has responsibility for safeguarding. All queries and concerns relating to safeguarding should be referred to Brenda Scanlan in the first instance, and she can be contacted at chair@lewishamchoralsociety.org.uk.
Any projects, events or other activities that will involve vulnerable people must be planned with the involvement of Brenda Scanlan, and in line with established procedures and ground rules (see below).
Procedures and Ground Rules
Recruitment Practices
If an existing or potential new member, staff member or volunteer will be working directly with vulnerable people or individually with a vulnerable person as part of LCS’s activities, the appropriate level of DBS will be required before that work is undertaken. The results of any check to inform a decision will be used confidentially and in line with LCS’s equal opportunities policy
Ground Rules and Ways for Working
LCS does not usually arrange activities where a group of vulnerable adults is likely to be present, but if this were to happen, LCS will ensure that they follow the ground rules and procedures as set out in the current guidance issued by Making Music in terms of ‘high level involvement’.
If a joint event is run with children or young people, LCS would expect and ensure that the children or young people’s group involved comply with relevant safeguarding guidelines and practice
Raising Safeguarding Concerns and Incidents of Abuse
If any member, staff or volunteer in LCS witnesses, suspects or is informed of a witnessed or suspected case of abuse they should immediately report it to the named safeguarding officer; Brenda Scanlan. If for any reason Brenda Scanlan is unavailable and likely to remain unavailable or absent for more than 24 hours, they should report it to another trustee.
If an individual wishes to report an incident of abuse against themselves they should report it to the named safeguarding officer, Brenda Scanlan, or a trustee - excluding any trustees who may be involved in the incident.
Dealing with Concerns and Incidents of Abuse
The named person, or person reported in their absence, will first make a decision based on the immediacy of the concern and the following two factors:
If the vulnerable person is in immediate danger or needs emergency medical attention – call the police and/or ambulance service
If the person at the centre of the allegation is working with vulnerable persons at the current time – remove them, in a sensitive manner, from direct contact with vulnerable people and follow the procedures below
If none of the above applies the named person will:
Make a note of the concerns reported to them
Speak with trustees to decide how to handle the reported abuse - excluding any trustees who may be involved in the incident
Escalate the report by either:
Raising concerns with the police – for serious or possible criminal offences
Requesting an alert/assessment by the relevant local authority social care department about whether a vulnerable person is in need of protection
An internal investigation – for less serious incidents where they feel internal mediation will resolve the issue and lead to a successful outcome
Where cases are escalated the trustees will cooperate with the police or local authority in dealing with the reported incident.
Inclusion and Diversity
Lewisham Choral Society (LCS) is open to everyone who enjoys choral singing. We are committed to providing a friendly and accessible environment for everybody, both newcomers and more experienced singers.
The choir welcomes adult singers of all ages from a diverse range of backgrounds and communities. Our aim is to provide an atmosphere that enables everyone to perform music together that is dynamic, challenging and forward-looking.
LCS is strongly committed to supporting people with disabilities: our rehearsal venue has good disabled access, including dedicated disabled parking and step-free access to the rehearsal area.
LCS sets an annual subscription rate (or a reduced rate for those joining mid-year), with concessions for unwaged people and a special rate for full-time students. LCS has a policy of helping members buy the music they will need, and/or enabling members to hire music at low cost.
LCS does not hold auditions and we encourage new members to try us out for free, so there is no need for anyone to obtain their own music in advance, or to pay any membership fees for their first few weeks with us.
LCS aims to hold the majority of its performances within the Lewisham area, where the choir has most of its community connections.
LCS is committed to attracting new audiences, and is keen to demonstrate that choral singing is for everybody by collaborating with other arts, community or voluntary sector organisations in a range of live community-based activities.
Complaints Policy
This policy sets out how the Lewisham Choral Society (LCS) committee will deal with any expression of dissatisfaction about LCS by a member or other individual who has contact with LCS.
We are committed to operating in a friendly and accessible way. We take all expressions of dissatisfaction seriously and aim to put things right as soon as possible.
All information relating to a concern or complaint will be handled sensitively, restricted to those who need to know, and in accordance with relevant data protection requirements.
Following resolution of a complaint the committee will consider what lessons can be learned for the future.
Informal concerns
An individual may wish to raise a concern informally with the Chair or any other member of the committee. This can be in person or by email at chair@lewishamchoralsociety.org.uk.
The committee member will seek to understand and investigate the concern. We will respond to the individual as soon as possible, verbally or in writing, with an explanation saying what action will be taken to address the issue. We aim to respond within two weeks.
Formal complaints
If an individual wishes to raise a formal complaint, or is not satisfied with the response to a concern, they should send an email or letter to the Chair at chair@lewishamchoralsociety.org.uk.
If the complaint is about the Chair, they should send an email or letter to another member of the committee.
The letter of complaint should explain the reasons for the complaint, the impact on the person making the complaint and whether the issues that have led to the complaint also affect others. It should also state what action they would like to see happen.
An appropriate committee member or members will be assigned to investigate the complaint. The complaint will be discussed further with the complainant and any person or persons whose behaviour has been complained about, or who has witnessed such behaviour. The details of the complaint will otherwise remain confidential and will not be discussed with committee members other than those investigating the complaint.
The investigating committee member(s) will endeavour to arrive at a resolution to be agreed between the parties. Failing agreement, they will make recommendations to the Honorary Officers who will inform the parties of their conclusions.
We will aim to respond formally within four weeks. A written response will be sent explaining the outcome of the investigation and any action to be taken. We will aim to work together on solutions and improvements.
If the complainant is not satisfied with the outcome of the investigation, they may ask for the complaint to be re-investigated for a second and final time by a different committee member or members. The same process will be followed as with the initial investigation. In this case the Honorary Officers’ conclusions will be final.