Cookies Policy

Cookies are small text files that websites store on your computer to give you a better experience whilst online. Just like most other websites, all the St John’s sites use cookies in some way. It’s important you understand what cookies are and why they are used, so that you can make an informed decision about whether you want to accept them or not. Below, we have explained what cookies are and what they do. A cookie is a small text file placed on your web browser (for example Google Chrome or Internet Explorer) when you visit a website from your computer or smartphone. The cookie allows us to store a small piece of information on your computer and then refer back to it, perhaps several times during your visit – or the next time you visit.

An example of using cookies would be in conjunction with a contact form. This form may ask you to fill out your name and email address. When you submit that form, we will set two cookies on your device. One which holds your name, and the other your email address. Then, next time you come to fill in the same form on our site, we will look for cookies and, if they exist, use them to automatically fill out your name and email address – saving you time. Cookies are stored on your computer or smartphone – this means you have control and can delete them if you wish to. We do not keep a copy of cookies we place on your computer, and cannot identify you personally from them. It is worth remembering that only the web service which sets a particular cookie can then read it at a later date. So the cookies set as a result of you filling in that form, could not be read by, say, The Guardian website.

The cookies we use can be divided into four broad types:

  1. When you complete certain forms on our website we use cookies to store what you wrote, in order to make it quicker next time you fill in the same or a similar form. This might be personal information, but it will never be sensitive information. For example, it might be your name and postcode, or your preferences when booking a conference.

  2. We also use cookies to monitor the use of different web pages and track how visitors navigate around our sites. This helps us evaluate our work, for example – do people spend more time on a page written in style x or style y? It also allows us make your experience better – we may see that the ‘route’ most commonly taken to a particular piece of content is unnecessarily lengthy, and add a link to that content on the homepage.

  3. We often provide you with the option to share content through social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter, or to connect with us there, without leaving our website. In order to facilitate this, the social networks themselves use cookies to identify you – so that they know who wants to share or who wants to connect with us. We do not control the use of these cookies, so below are links to the cookie policies of some of the social networks we integrate with:
    Twitter; Facebook; LinkedIn; Squarespace; Google.

  4. In order to provide you with content in appropriate ways, we sometimes have to use third-party services to do so. An example of this would be a video, or a document. Many of the services we use for this will also use cookies, which again we do not control. Below are links to the relevant policies of content providers we use:
    Google (Youtube, Hangouts, Google Docs, forms); Scribd; Issuu.

You need to decide whether you want to accept them or not. Because cookies are so important to the effective running of this site, several will have already been set. By continuing to browse, you are accepting that we can use any of the above mentioned cookies for the purposes detailed.

If you would prefer not to receive cookies, there are instruction on disabling cookies for most web browsers available here.

We hold all of your data in accordance with our own data protection policy, and the Data Protection Act. Click here for a copy of our data protection policy.

The Data Protection Act governs how we collect, hold and use your data. It can be summarised into these eight key principles:

  1. We will only use your data for the purpose(s) for which we collected it.

  2. We cannot disclose your data to other parties without your permission, unless there is law forcing us to.

  3. You have the right to access the data which we hold about you.

  4. We cannot hold your data for longer than necessary, and we must keep it up to date.

  5. We cannot send your data outside the EU, unless there is adequate protection in place. (We do store data outside the EU, but all data controllers there are part of the safe harbour agreement).

  6. We must be registered with the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

  7. We must have adequate security in place to protect your data.

  8. You have the right to have factually incorrect data we hold about you corrected.

We are of course fully committed to complying with all relevant legislation, and will adhere to it at all times. Specifically related to communications, we comply fully with the Privacy and Electronic Communications Directive (PECR) and the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act.

If you have any questions, please contact Catherine on catherinewhite@stjohnsharborne.org for more information.