Privacy Policy
Your personal information is safe with Lavell’s Wetland Trust (LWT)
We regularly review our procedures for the handling, processing and storage of all personal data we collect to maintain your relationship with the charity. The way that LWT uses and protects personal data is based on the Legitimate Interests provision of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). We are committed to maintaining the highest standards and we encourage people to bring it to our attention if they think our collection or use of information is unfair, misleading, or inappropriate.
Who are we
LWT is a charity whose aims are to enhance, protect and preserve the natural habitats, fauna and flora in the Loddon Valley for the benefit of the public and to advance public education and interest in the conservation of the countryside and wildlife. With over 500 members, the charity and area are very popular among wildlife enthusiasts across Berkshire, not least due to the 3 public and 3 restricted access bird watching hides/screens and well-managed mixture of wetland habitats.
Why we collect personal information
We collect personal information so we can communicate in an effective way on matters that are important to you, with the aim of adding further value to your membership. We use this to send out our AGM notice/newsletter, seasonal newsletters and to offer access to a membership area on our database to enhance your own information gathering tastes and experience.
What personal information we collect
Membership –The personal information that we collect derive primarily from the two ways new members apply for membership. These are the online form on our website and a small number of physical paper-based forms. Personal information is stored in a database administered by Membermojo. The tools and controls provided by Membermojo help in the implementation of LWT’s GDPR privacy policy for managing personal member data.
Personal details: These are title, name, address, postcode, email address and telephone number. These are needed to maintain your membership and are stored on a secure database hosted by Membermojo.
Contribution: Individual, Family, LWT Bird News (via WhatsApp), annual donation, individual donation.
Payment history: Your payment history includes subscriptions, purchases and donations, but credit/debit card information is not stored.
Areas of interest: The optional subjects you have selected when you joined or renewed your membership, e.g. birds, flora, fauna, insects, volunteer work parties.
Gift Aid: This applies to UK tax payers only and is optional.
Security of data
LWT does not provide personal data to anyone who does not have a legitimate reason for accessing it. No personal data is ever provided to third parties without the explicit permission of the individuals involved.
All LWT officers who hold personal data ensure that it is kept securely. They take sensible and proportionate precautions to ensure that personal data (both electronic and on paper) is adequately protected, including using and regularly updating anti-virus software, keeping equipment and paperwork safe, and regularly backing up data.
In the unlikely event of a data breach, the officer concerned will immediately report it to the rest of the LWT committee who will take appropriate action. The nature of the data held means that any risk, from a breach, to individual members is low.
Any officer who leaves their post must pass all the personal data they hold to the person taking over from them and no data will be retained by the retiring officer.
Legitimate interests & assessment
All the information above is collected to maintain your membership of LWT and so the legal basis for collection of this information is “legitimate interests”.
Your membership profile is not accessible to other members and you can view and update your personal details in the membership database.
We will not share any personal data with third party organisations for marketing purposes and will not pass on your data to any other third-party organisation. We will always ensure that stringent protection applies to any personal information that is transferred outside the European Economic Area.
You also have the right to view, edit and ask us to delete all the information that we hold on you. However if you ask us to delete all your information, LWT will not be able to maintain your membership as it will not be able to honour its obligation to you as a member. If your personal data is removed from our membership database, it will be stored in an archive but will not be processed (see Your data’s journey through LWT).
LWT has carried out a legitimate interest’s assessment, which is reviewed regularly (at least once a year) and revised when necessary.
How members will be contacted by the charity
We strive to make sure that LWT members are kept up-to-date with the news, events and improvements happening at Lavell’s and Lea Farm Lakes. To this end, we normally stay in contact:
Via Post: (only for those not on email)
AGM notice/newsletter which is sent out at least two weeks in advance of the meeting, the AGM minutes, the seasonal newsletters, and the Hide Code of Conduct.
Via Email:
AGM notice/newsletter which is sent out at least two weeks in advance of the meeting, the AGM minutes, the seasonal newsletters, and the Hide Code of Conduct.
You can select from a list of subjects to help us to tailor emails to individual tastes and areas of interest and we may occasionally ask for your input
- What areas of wildlife you like
- Guided Walks
- Volunteer work
- Events
- Surveys – To improve our services we want to ask for your input
- Event invites – Occasionally we have events, or Extraordinary General Meetings that we require a membership quorum to move forward on decisions, therefore we sometimes send out whole membership emails, these are very infrequent
Your data’s journey through LWT
LWT is a registered charity (1176960). Your personal data is maintained in a membership database and, where necessary, processed for legal purposes e.g. Gift Aid, and for archiving and maintenance of the charity’s historical records. It is sincerely hoped that you will agree for your personal data to be further processed in this way. This however does not mean that your “right to be forgotten” is taken away. Under the terms of the GDPR you have a right to request at any time a copy of the data we hold about you by using a subject access request to the Data Protection Officer. You can also view and amend your personal date in the membership database.
If a member leaves, their contact details are stored (but not processed) for a maximum of seven years, for financial probity. During this time, the data is not processed (unless required for outstanding Gift Aid claims) or provided to anyone.
Please note that some personal information from deceased members will be securely stored for historical and archive purposes in line with our charitable purpose.
If you want to discuss any aspects of LWT’s Privacy Policy, or have suggestions for improvement of our procedures, please contact the charity’s membership secretary in writing to LWT c/o Dinton Pastures Countryside Service, Davis Street, Hurst, RG10 0TH or by email lavellswt@gmail.com
[Updated July 2024]