This page does not store any personal user information by means of cookies or other tracking technology and is in compliance with UK GDPR regulations. It was written largely before 2010 in a halcyon era when web visitors were seen as honored guests rather than sources of aggressive monetisation.

The website uses a session cookie to track user progress through the website. This is entirely anonymous and does not contain any personal information. It's basically just a number which is saved to your computer. This is like a ticket you get at the counter in the delicatessen where you were only known as "number fifteen" and the staff would call you when you were next in line. Remember that? That's a session cookie. If that didn't bother you then this website shouldn't either.

Why do we have this at all? Well it's used to track authenticated users. Choir members have personal accounts on the website and need to log in to access the choir-only pages. When they log in, the session cookie tells the website that the person trying to update their availability for next Sunday's services is the same person who logged in twenty seconds ago using a valid username and password. As soon as you first load the website, this session cookie is set up and sticks with you as long as you're browsing. If you later log in then everything will just work seemlessly. If you're a member of the public without an account then the session cookie won't ever be used. Like if you pick up a ticket at the delicatessen but then never buy anything.

I hope that's clear. The government made me write this, so I figured I could at least try to make it actually have educational value. If you're a choir member and authenticated on the website then you'll see a few more paragraphs below. If you're not, then you won't. That's the magic of session cookies. See, you've learned something today.