DATA PROTECTION POLICY
GENERAL
If you are a member of South West Herts Astronomical Society (SWHAS), the Treasurer and Membership Secretary and the
Chairman hold your personal details – name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, subscriptions paid and attendance at
the monthly meetings. This information is used in the ordinary running of the Society.
SWHAS will not share your personal details with any third party without your permission, except if required by law.
WHAT PERSONAL DATA IS COLLECTED ABOUT ME?
The following data is collected from each member of SWHAS:
• First name, surname, postal address and post code (for child members only their name)
• Telephone number and e-mail address
• How you learnt about SWHAS
• Date joined SWHAS
• Dates and amounts received for the annual subscription and any expenses reimbursed to members
• Attendance at monthly meetings and attendance at the HighTop Observatory
HOW ARE MY PERSONAL DATA COLLECTED?
This data is collected from the ‘Application for Membership/Membership Renewal Form’, the Gift Aid Declaration form if
completed, Data Protection consent form, from the SWHAS Treasurer when recording the receipt of the annual subscriptions
and reimbursing expenses and attendance at meetings and attendance at the HighTop observatory
WHERE ARE MY PERSONAL DATA STORED AND HOW SECURE IS THE STORAGE?
The paper Application for Membership forms, Gift Aid Declaration forms, Data Protection consent forms and monthly meetings
attendance records are stored by the SWHAS Treasurer. Attendance at the HighTop Observatory is kept at the Observatory
For each member their first name, surname, postal address, post code, telephone number, email address, date of payment of
annual subscription and amount is recorded in Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Word files held in a separate directory named
‘SWHAS’ on the SWHAS Treasurer’s family computer located at his/her home address. The computer is password protected.
WHO CAN SEE MY PERSONAL DATA AND FOR WHAT PURPOSE?
The member’s personal data is shared with the following with the reasons for sharing it:
• Name and email address is supplied to the SWHAS webmaster or designated SWHAS committee member responsible
for the distribution of the newsletter and general communications
• Name, postal address with post code is supplied to the designated SWHAS member for the distribution of the
newsletter by post.
• Name and email address is supplied to the SWHAS Chairman for general communications
• A list of members names is supplied to the SWHAS Membership Secretary in order to have an up to date membership
list
• A list of members names is supplied to the designated SWHAS committee member responsible for the HighTop
Observatory at Flaunden, to ensure only members use this facility and for Health & Safety reasons
• A list of members’ names is supplied to the Royal Masonic School for Girls before each monthly meeting (for security
purposes). If the School requests, SWHAS will also supply each members home address.
• For those who have signed the Gift Aid Declaration form, name, address, post code, date subscription paid and the
amount paid will be supplied to the HMRC as part of the procedure to claim gift aid
• A list of members names, date subscription received and amount received is supplied to the Independent Examiner as
part of the examination of the accounts and supporting records
ATTENDANCE RECORDS
At each monthly meeting a list of attendee will be generated for Health & Safety reasons and used by the SWHAS committee to
better understand the interests of its membership and the popularity of the speaker and subject.
A list of attendees at the observatory at HighTop in Flaunden will be generated – for Health & Safety reasons
ACCOUNTING RECORDS
On the receipt of subscriptions the SWHAS Treasurer will record, for each member, the date of receipt and amount received as
part of the accounting records.
On reimbursement of expenses incurred by a member of SWHAS, the SWHAS treasurer will record the amount paid, the date
paid, the recipient’s name and reason for reimbursement.
In the case where a Gift Aid Declaration form has been signed this document will be retained for the period of time required by
the HMRC.
Accounting records relating to members will be retained for six years after the accounting date.
ADDITIONAL PERSONAL DATA REQUIRED
On occasions SWHAS may arrange other events. In these cases the designated SWHAS committee member organising the event
will arrange to collect the personal data required from members interested in attending. In certain circumstances security
information may be required by an organisation being visited as a condition of that visit such as car registration number,
passport number etc. This data will be supplied to the organisation being visited. This data held by SWHAS will be destroyed
within 6 months of the visit, trip or event.
ACCIDENT RECORDS
In the case of an accident an accident record will be created containing the name of those injured, their address and telephone
number, nature of the incident, a full record of the events leading to the incident, initial assessment of the injury or damage and
later the actual nature of the injury or damage. This information will be shared with the insurance company and other relevant
parties including ambulance service personnel, fire service personnel, police service personnel, the Royal Masonic School for
Girls if the accident occurs on their property. This accident data collected will be destroyed 6 years after settling any claim.
OTHER DATA COLLECTED
Other information collected by way of ongoing activities of SWHAS are:
• Photographs of members at events
• Astro-photographs submitted by members for inclusion in the newsletter, on the website, members’ images for
meetings and for public display and exhibitions
• Summary of talks given by members at the monthly meetings and articles supplied by members for inclusion the
newsletter or other forms of publication
In all cases the name of the member will be attributed to the publication, article or astro-photograph. Names of members in
photographs will be recorded.
These records will be kept by the Chairman, Webmaster and designated committee member responsible for keeping the SWHAS
archives.
SWHAS will retain this data in order to recognize the contribution of its members
SWHAS won’t share your information with any organisation for marketing, market research or commercial purposes.
YOUR RIGHTS
Members of SWHAS have the following rights:
1. To request the SWHAS Treasurer to have their personal data removed from the files held by SWHAS.
2. To request from the SWHAS Treasurer the information that is held and stored about them by the society
WILL ALL MY PERSONAL BE DESTROYED IF I REQUEST IT?
SWHAS will not destroy any records that it has to keep by law until the legal time limits have expired. Such records will be those
needed to support Gift Aid claims, support accounting transactions and accident records.
Under normal circumstances personal data will be retained for no more than two years: thus members during the previous year
can be contacted regarding membership renewal in the following year.
KEEPING YOUR PERSONAL DETAILS UP TO DATE AND RELEVANT
It is vitally important to SWHAS that members’ personal data is up to date and relevant. Members are requested to contact the
SWHAS Treasurer in writing to notify a change in postal address, email address, telephone number or name.
THE CONTACT DETAILS OF THE SWHAS TREASURER
The SWHAS Treasurer’s contact details are: email: 7ironp@googlemail.com
Postal address: The SWHAS Treasurer, 65 The Ridgeway, Watford, Herts., WD17 4TJ
CEASING TO BE A MEMBER OF SWHAS
Membership of SWHAS ceases if the member informs the SWHAS Membership Secretary or Treasurer that he/she no longer
wishes to be a member or if the annual subscription is not paid by the end of April of the new subscription year. Their personal
data will then be deleted from the membership file.
In the case where a Gift Aid Declaration form has been signed this document will be retained for the period of time required by
the HMRC. Accounting records relating to past members will also be retained for six years after the accounting year in which
the person ceases to be a member.
WEBSITE
On the Contact page to the Chairman, Secretary, Membership Secretary or Webmaster the following is requested as mandatory:
• First name, surname
• Email address and telephone number
• Subject and message
This information will be shared with the relevant committee member(s) designated to answer the question or deal with the
query
Where the request is to attend a monthly meeting the postal address is required to be supplied by the correspondent. For such
requests, the name and postal address of the correspondent/requester will be supplied to the Royal Masonic School for Girls as
a condition of entry on to the school’s premises.
All entries on the Contact page are recorded and kept by the SWHAS Webmaster. This data will be removed 6 months after the
year of the contact/question/query
VISITORS TO MONTHLY MEETINGS
Visitors are requested to sign in by providing in BLOCK CAPITAL letters there first name and surname, and full postal address
including post code. This data is required for Health & Safety reasons and for reimbursement of the visitor fee should the
person join SWHAS in the calendar year of the visit. If these lists are requested by the Royal Masonic School for Girls then this
information will be supplied by SWHAS. These visitor lists support the accounting records for Visitor Fee income and thus will
not be destroyed until 6 years after the accounting year of the visit.
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