Privacy Policy
We take your privacy seriously. This Privacy Policy explains how Friends of Lake Meadows collects, uses, stores and protects personal information about our members, volunteers, donors, supporters and website visitors. It also explains your rights and how to contact us about your data.
Friends of Lake Meadows is a small, volunteer-run charity. We aim to handle your information fairly, lawfully and transparently, and in line with UK data protection law, including the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR).
Please read this notice carefully. If anything is unclear or you have questions, you can contact us using the details in the Contact Us About Privacy section below.
Friends of Lake Meadows is an independent local charity supporting Lake Meadows park in Billericay for the benefit of the community.
Organisation name: Friends of Lake Meadows
Registered charity number: 1157058
Website: https://www.lakemeadows.org.uk
For the purposes of UK data protection law, Friends of Lake Meadows is the “data controller” for the personal information we collect and use in connection with our activities.
Contact details for privacy matters
Email: [email protected]
Postal address: Friends of Lake Meadows, Lake Meadows, Radford Crescent, Billericay CM12 0BW
Because we are a small charity, we have not appointed a formal Data Protection Officer, but the committee is collectively responsible for data protection. In practice, queries are normally handled by the Secretary or Chair.
The information we collect depends on how you choose to engage with us. We only collect what we need for our charity activities.
Information you give us directly may include:
- Contact details, such as your name, email address, postal address and phone number.
- Membership details, such as type of membership, payment records, renewal dates and communication preferences.
- Volunteering information, such as the areas you help with, availability, skills you offer, and records of sessions you attend.
- Donation information, such as the amount donated, date, method of payment and Gift Aid declarations (where applicable).
- Event booking details, such as the event you are attending, number of tickets, names of attendees and any access needs you choose to share.
- Photo competition entries, including your name, contact details, photo title and description, and the images you submit.
- Website and form enquiries, such as messages you send via our online contact forms or by email.
Children’s information
Our activities sometimes involve children, for example photo competitions, events or activities in the park. Where this is the case, we may collect a child’s name, age group and parent or carer contact details. We aim to collect information about children only with appropriate parental or guardian consent, and we keep this information for no longer than necessary for the activity.
Information we collect automatically
When you use our website, basic technical information (such as your IP address, device type and pages viewed) may be collected through cookies and similar technologies. We use this to help us understand how the website is used and to keep it running securely. See the Cookies and Website Analytics section and our separate Cookies Policy for more detail.
We use personal information only where we have a lawful reason to do so, and only for our legitimate charity activities. Typical uses include:
- Administering membership – to process applications and renewals, collect membership subscriptions, keep in touch with members and send membership information.
- Organising volunteering – to coordinate volunteering sessions, keep attendance records for health and safety, and share relevant information with volunteer coordinators.
- Managing events and activities – to process bookings, manage waiting lists, share joining instructions, and handle feedback or issues.
- Handling donations and Gift Aid – to process donations, claim Gift Aid where applicable, and keep the financial records we are legally required to maintain.
- Sending newsletters and updates – to share news about the park, our projects, events, fundraising and volunteering opportunities, according to your contact preferences and our legal basis for contacting you.
- Managing photo competitions and galleries – to administer entries, communicate with entrants, select and display winning and shortlisted images, and credit photographers where appropriate.
- Responding to enquiries – to reply to questions, comments or complaints you send us via the website, email, phone or post.
- Running and improving our website – to keep the site secure and to understand how people use it so we can improve content and usability.
We do not use your personal data for automated decision-making that has legal or similarly significant effects on you.
| Legal basis | When we use it |
|---|---|
| Consent | When you have clearly agreed that we may use your information for a specific purpose, for example to receive certain email updates, to take part in a photo competition, or to use a child's image. |
| Contract | When we need to process your information to enter into or perform a contract with you, for example processing your membership application or event booking. |
| Legal obligation | When we must process or keep certain information because the law requires it, for example financial records, Gift Aid records or information needed for safeguarding and health and safety. |
| Legitimate interests | When we use your information in ways you would reasonably expect as part of running our charity and promoting the park, and where this does not override your rights and freedoms. Examples include keeping in touch with existing members and volunteers about our activities, or basic website analytics. |
We do not sell your personal information to anyone.
We may share your data with trusted third parties who help us run the charity, but only where this is necessary and subject to appropriate safeguards. These may include:
- Service providers such as email or newsletter platforms, website hosting and maintenance providers, and IT support.
- Payment or booking providers used to process donations, membership payments or event bookings.
- Professional advisers such as accountants, where needed for charity administration and reporting.
We only share the information they need to provide their services, and we require them to keep it secure and use it only for our specified purposes.
We may also need to share personal data where the law requires us to do so, for example with HM Revenue & Customs for Gift Aid, or with regulators or law enforcement agencies if we are legally obliged to.
We aim to keep your information accurate, up to date and secure.
Security measures
We use a combination of physical, technical and organisational measures to protect personal data, for example:
- Using password protection and, where possible, additional security on devices and systems.
- Restricting access to personal data to committee members or volunteers who need it for their role.
- Using reputable third-party providers for email, website and payment services.
- Storing paper records securely and disposing of them safely when no longer needed.
While we take reasonable steps to protect your information, no system is completely secure. We will act promptly if we become aware of a data breach that affects your personal information and, where required, we will notify you and the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).
How long we keep your information
We keep personal data only for as long as it is needed for the purposes described in this notice, and to meet any legal or reporting requirements. The table below gives a general guide.
| Type of information | Typical retention period |
|---|---|
| Membership records and contact details | For the duration of your membership and up to 3 years after it ends, unless you ask us to stop sooner where we can. |
| Volunteer records | For as long as you actively volunteer and up to 3 years after your last activity, or longer where needed for safeguarding or health and safety. |
| Donation and Gift Aid records | Normally 6 years from the end of the financial year in which the donation was made, to meet legal and accounting requirements. |
| Event bookings and attendance lists | For the duration of the event and up to 3 years afterwards, or longer where needed for insurance, health and safety or incident records. |
| Photo competition entries | For the duration of the competition and any related gallery or publicity, and then reviewed periodically to decide what needs to be kept. |
| General enquiries | For as long as needed to handle your enquiry and up to 2 years afterwards. |
Under UK data protection law you have a number of rights in relation to your personal information. These include the right to:
- Access – ask for a copy of the personal data we hold about you, together with information about how we use it.
- Rectification – ask us to correct or complete information that is inaccurate or incomplete.
- Erasure – ask us to delete your personal data in certain circumstances (“the right to be forgotten”).
- Restriction – ask us to limit how we use your information in certain situations.
- Objection – object to our use of your data where we are relying on legitimate interests or sending you certain types of communications.
- Data portability – in some cases, ask us to provide your data in a reusable electronic format so that you can use it with another organisation.
- Withdraw consent – where we rely on your consent, you can withdraw it at any time. This will not affect the lawfulness of any use of your data before you withdrew your consent.
If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details in the Contact Us About Privacy section. We may need to ask for proof of identity before responding.
You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) if you are unhappy with how we handle your personal data. You can find details on how to do this at www.ico.org.uk.
Our website may use cookies and similar technologies to make the site work, to remember your preferences and to help us understand how people use the site.
The information collected is usually in an anonymous or aggregated form, such as which pages are visited and for how long, the type of device used and approximate location. We use this to help improve our content and the usability of the site.
For more detailed information about the cookies we use, how long they last and how you can manage them, please see our separate Cookies Policy.
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, how we use your data, or if you want to exercise any of your data protection rights, please contact us.
Email: [email protected]
Postal address: Friends of Lake Meadows, Lake Meadows, Radford Crescent, Billericay CM12 0BW
Phone (message facility): 07843860135
For some requests (for example, access to your data) we may need to confirm your identity before we can respond.