Privacy policy
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force on 25 May 2018.  This has implications for how Spalding and District Civic Society (the Society) handles your data and how we communicate with you.  The Society has always taken all reasonable steps to ensure that data held about its members is treated confidentially.  However, the introduction of the GDPR means that you have to be told in detail how the Society handles your personal data and how we communicate with you.  Although the GDPR comes from the European Union, the British Government has confirmed that the UK will continue to apply this regulation after the UK leaves the EU. 
What information do we collect?
iIn this context personal data is any information about you which allows us to identify and communicate with you.
The Society keeps the following personal data about you:
• Your name and postal address.
• Your telephone number and/or mobile telephone number where you have provided one.
• Your email address where you have provided one.
• Details of membership subscriptions you have paid.
• Details of any Gift Aid authorities you may have signed.
• Details of any events you may have attended.
• Emails or correspondence you have sent us.

How do we store your information?
Your personal data is stored on electronic equipment and/or hard copy used by members of the Committee.  Information is usually held only by the Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer.  Some of our records, such as membership forms and Gift Aid authorities, are held in paper format by the Secretary and Treasurer.  All personal data is stored securely and is regularly updated and backed up. 
We keep the information for as long as we deem necessary within the remit of the legislation.  Membership details and Gift Aid authorities will be retained for as long as you are a member.  We may also need to keep financial information for a period of six financial years after the end of the financial year in which the transaction occurred so that we can respond to any enquiries from HMRC about our income or applications for Gift Aid.

What do we do with your information?  
We only use the information we keep to help us administer the functions of the society and to notify members of our latest news, activities and events.  We may occasionally tell you about events organised by others that we think may be of interest to members.

We will not share your information with any third party; the only exception is in respect of information that we are obliged to share with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs to support Gift Aid claims.
What are your Rights?
You have the right to ask us to tell you what information we hold about you at any time.  You can do this by writing to our Secretary at her postal address or by emailing her. 
You also have the right at any time to correct any information we hold about you which is incorrect or out of date.
You have the right to cancel your membership at any time and ask for your details to be removed from our records.  Please note that we may need to keep details of payments you have made to us even after your membership ends, as explained above.
How will we contact you?
When you join the Society we add your name to our mailing lists and then keep you informed about the Society’s events and activities.  We will occasionally contact you about your membership of the Society and will remind you when your subscription is due.  
We will tell you about Civic Society related events organised by other organisations and other Civic Societies in the area.
We will usually contact you only by email (preferred) or by post.  People who have provided us with an email address will receive information from us more frequently than those who have provided us only with a postal address.  The reason for this is based primarily on the costs of printing and postage but can also be due to the fact that we sometimes receive information from others at very short notice and there may not be time to issue postal communication to members.
Very rarely we may need to contact you by telephone but this would usually be only to let you know about late changes to our events where an email or letter may not reach you in time.