Privacy Policy

We last updated our privacy policy on 27th July 2019

About Us

Wolverhampton Astronomical Society (WOLVAS) is a West Midlands based amateur astronomy society, and is affiliated to the British Astronomical Association, the Society for Popular Astronomy, the Federation of Astronomical Societies and the West Midlands Federation of Astronomical Societies.

What data we collect from you & why

Members

When you become a member of WOLVAS we will collect basic information about you which will include your name, telephone number(s), email address, postal address and grade of membership. We do not capture any sensitive personal data.

We will collect and process your data for the purposes of administering your involvement in WOLVAS on the basis of legitimate interests. This includes dealing with your requests and enquiries, notifying you of meetings/events via the mailing list, providing other information relating to society activities and reminding you when membership renewal is due.

If you are part of the observing group, your phone number will be used for text alerts when arranging observing sessions.

Mailing list users

Our mailing list is open to non-members who wish to be kept informed about the society, including our talks and events. In order to join the mailing list we collect your name and email address. This data will not be used for any other purpose.

Website users

This website uses Google Analytics to track usage of our website purely for the purposes of improving our website. Your IP address is not recorded, so we do not collect any personal information from you, and the data is not used for advertising purposes. The data is sent to Google’s servers.

Data storage and access

The data we collect on you is stored electronically in encrypted format. The data from paper membership forms is digitised and the original form is securely destroyed.

The data is only accessible by current members of the WOLVAS Council for legitimate uses as stated above.

Third party access

We will never sell your data to any third parties.

We will never share your data with any third parties without your explicit consent.

Equipment loan

If a member loans equipment from WOLVAS, we are obligated by our insurers to inform them of the new temporary storage address in order for the equipment to be insured. As a result we have to share your address with our insurers for the duration of your equipment loan.

The equipment loan forms state this requirement, and signing the form gives your consent for us to share your address with the insurers for this purpose.

How long we retain your data

Members

We will retain your data for such time as you are a member of WOLVAS. If you notify the Secretary (secretary@wolvas.org.uk) that you intend to leave the society, are removed for non-payment of subscriptions or are removed for any other reason, then your data may be retained on our membership system for a period of up to one year.

Mailing list users only

If you are on our mailing list but not a current member of WOLVAS, and you wish to leave the mailing list, we will not retain any of your data once you are removed.

Your rights

You have the right to access your personal data record for checking and the right to have the record corrected if in error. Data will be provided electronically unless otherwise requested.

You can withdraw consent to receive messages from our email list or observing text alerts system at any time. To exercise these rights please contact the WOLVAS Data Coordinator (dataprotection@wolvas.org.uk). We undertake to action your request within one calendar month of receiving it.

Complaints

If you have any complaints about how WOLVAS collects and/or processes your personal data, you should contact the society’s data protection officer in the first instance (dataprotection@wolvas.org.uk). If you are dissatisfied with how your concern/complaint is dealt with by WOLVAS, you have the right to report your concern/complaint to the Information Commissioners Office (www.ico.org.uk)