Privacy Policy

Privacy Notice

Our data promise

KOAS is committed to protecting your privacy and data. We – and our wholly-owned subsidiary trading company KOSL – will use the information that we collect about you in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation 2018 and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003.

What information do we collect?

You give us your information when you book an event on our website, order merchandise, contact us by email or by phone, by updating your preferences on our website, by making a donation, or by communicating with us. We also keep your details when you sign up to receive emails, newsletters and other communications from us.

The information we hold about you may include your:

  • Name
  • Postal/billing address
  • Telephone number
  • Email address
  • Donation history
  • Preferences for how we communicate with you about our activities

It may also include other information that is publicly available.

We maintain a record of your order transaction history, but all payment card details are handled by our merchant service provider Worldpay; we can however access the last four digits of your payment card to help us identify transactions

We keep a record of the emails we send you. We may also track whether you receive or open them, so we can make sure we are sending you the most relevant information. We may then track any subsequent actions online, such as booking an event or ordering merchandise.

Please see our policy on our website for further details.

How do we use your data?

If there is any important change to your booking we will contact you, particularly in relation to weather conditions given the remote location of the observatory. This information, alongside your purchase and/ or donation history is used to select and inform you of other relevant events or activities we think may be of interest to you.

We use your data to:

  • Provide you with booking or order confirmation forms or respond to information you have asked for
  • Contact you if there are any important changes to your booking or order
  • Administer your booking, order or donation, including processing Gift Aid
  • Keep a record of your relationship with us
  • Ensure we know how you prefer to be contacted
  • Undertake occasional customer research, to help us understand how we can improve our services or information
  • Tell you about changes in our programme, new products and services and to mention opportunities to support us that we think you will find of interest.
  • Analyse your personal information to create a profile of your interests and preferences, so that we can contact you with information most relevant to you.

If you do not want to receive information by post or email about offers, activities or customer research, you have the option to change any of your contact preferences at any time by using the contact details at the end of this document.

We may combine information you provide to us with information available from external sources, to gain a better understanding of our visitors. We use profiling and segmentation to ensure communications are relevant and timely and to provide an improved experience to our visitors and supporters. When building a profile, we may analyse geographic, demographic and other information relating to you, to understand better your interests and preferences so we can contact you with the most relevant communication.

Third parties

We will not share any of your personal details with any other third parties without your agreement, unless this is required to fulfil our contract with you or allowed by law.

In general, the third-party providers used by us to fulfil our contract with you will only collect, use and disclose your information to the extent necessary to allow them to perform the services they provide to us. These providers include MailChimp, Zymplify, Royal Mail, PayPal, and Worldpay. We have agreements in place with each to ensure that your data is secure at all times and cannot be accessed or used for any other purpose.

Giving you control

Unless you ask us not to, we will tell you about future events and opportunities to support us. You can opt out from these communications at any time—every email, letter or html communication sent to you will tell you how to do this.

If you have opted out of marketing or fundraising communications, we may still get in touch with you regarding your booking. For example, we may email you to give you important information about the event you have booked for, with any changes that affect you.

Images and filming

Please be aware that we allow visitors to record film and take photographs throughout their visits and these may be posted on social media. We take photographs, and film videos and timelapses for use on social media. We also have password protected IP cameras on site to monitor the weather. Only staff are permitted to access images from the livestream.

Outside media representatives will be asked to seek permission before capturing images.

How we keep your data safe

Your personal data will be held and processed on KOAS or KOSL systems, depending on the nature of your transaction with us. Where possible, we aim to keep a single record for each customer.

Your data is always held securely. Access to customer information is strictly controlled. It is held in the UK and the processes are EU compliant.

We may need to disclose your details if required to the Police, regulatory bodies or legal advisers.

Sensitive information

Sometimes we may ask you to provide sensitive information, for example when you apply for certain events or when you apply for a job. As with all personal information we hold, sensitive information is held securely and restricted to those who need to use it. We will delete information when we no longer need it.

Cookies

If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.

If you visit our login page, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.

When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.

If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day. 

Embedded content from other websites

Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

Changes to this privacy notice

We may change this privacy notice from time to time. If we make any significant changes in the way we treat your personal information, we will make this clear on our website or by contacting you directly.

Your rights

You have the following rights related to your personal data:

  • The right to request a copy of personal information held about you
  • The right to request that inaccuracies be corrected
  • The right to request us to stop processing your personal data
  • The right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office or Fundraising Regulator.

Contact us

Please contact us if you have any questions about this document or wish to be removed from any of our communications or data processing activities. You can contact both KOAS and KOSL by:

  • emailing us at: admin@kielderobservatory.org
  • writing to us at:

    The Data Protection Officer, Kielder Observatory Astronomical Society, Unit C Bewick, Prestwick Business Park, Ponteland, Northumberland, NE20 9SJ.

Our Data Protection Officer acts on behalf of both KOAS and KOSL.

Thank you

On behalf of the Trustees and the staff, I would like to thank you for your ongoing support of our charity and its important development work.

Catherine Johns
Chief Executive Officer

Updated October 2019