Privacy Policy
How we treat the information we gather
The London Gardens Society is a registered charity.
This policy applies to information collected via the entry and enquiry forms from your registration and our website www.thelondongardenssociety.org.uk
We are the Data Controller of personal information that this policy applies to under the Data Protection Act 1998 and in the General Data Protection Regulations 2018 (GDPR)
We only collect information about you that:
- Allows you to enter our competitions or make enquiries about entering.
- Lets us contact you to provide advice and support following an enquiry or entry.
- Lets us forward your details to judges and assessors for the sole purposes of contacting you about judging or assessing your entry.
- Lets us organise mentoring and coaching visits and give talks and presentations.
- Provides us with location details for the sole purposes of judging or assessing.
- Lets us inform you of forthcoming events; Seminars, Workshops, Award Ceremonies.
- Lets us use the name of your entry for the purposes of naming certificates and trophies.
- Shows us how you are using the site, so we can keep improving it.
- Helps us understand why you support our work, so we can better meet your needs and find more people like you.
Forms on the site may ask you for more information so that you are entered into an appropriate category. You’ll always be shown when this information is being collected. In many cases, you’ll be asked to enter it – for example, an email address for correspondence. This information will only be used for the purposes stated.
The information we collect
We will only collect the following information from people visiting the website:
- Questions, queries and feedback you leave, including your email address if you send us an email.
- When sending us feedback, your message will be kept to help us improve.
How we store your personal data
All information you provide to us is stored on secure servers. Email addresses and basic contact details are maintained on the Society’s computers used by the Secretary and all data is secured by multilayer security systems and saved to external drives which are only connected to when information is required to run our systems.
The transmission of information over the internet is never completely secure. We’ll do our best to protect your personal data, but cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to our site; any transmission is at your own risk. We use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access.
How we use your information
Any information we collect is used to:
- Organise the annual site visits, judging and assessments
- Organise seminars, workshops and the annual awards
- Let you access your assessment and judging reports when you choose to do so
- Contact you, with your permission
We never share your information with other organisations for marketing, market research or commercial purposes, and we don’t pass on your personal information to any other organisations without your express permission.
Use of postal addresses and phone numbers
If you do not have access to electronic systems (websites/emails etc.) and you apply to enter by post, we may use these details to contact you. If you have given us your postal address or phone number and would prefer not to be contacted by other means, please let us know.
Disclosure of your information
We may disclose your personal information:
- If we are under a duty to disclose or share visitors’ personal data to comply with a legal obligation
- For law enforcement purposes
- To apply our terms of use and other agreements
Visitors’ rights
Under the Data Protection Act, you have the right:
- to be informed of the data we hold
- to see the data we hold
- to have any inaccuracies rectified
- to have any date erased
- to restrict data to competition use only
- to restrict any processing
- to prevent portability
- to object to any issues relating to the holding or the use of your data
- not to be the subject of any auto decision making
For a copy of the personal information we hold about you, write to the Data Protection Officer, The London Gardens Society, 18 Magnolia Way, Pilgrims Hatch, Brentwood, Essex CM15 9QS. When we are satisfied with your identity we will send you a copy of your personal information that we are legally required to disclose.
Please contact us at the same address if you believe that information we hold about you is inaccurate and want it to be corrected or removed.
Changes to our privacy policy
As we continue to improve our systems, we may update this policy. Any changes we may make to our privacy policy in the future will be posted on our website.
Andrew Babicz Secretary 17th February 2021