Privacy Policy

The Shropshire Family History Society (SFHS) is committed to protecting your privacy and security. The purpose of this policy is to explain to you what personal information we collect, how we use it and how you can remain in control of your information.

1. About Us

Your personal data will be collected and used by SFHS (registered charity number 514014 in England).

For the purposes of the data protection law SFHS will be the controller of the data collected.

All data collected is stored securely in line with UK data storage legislation.

Our website www.sfhs.org.uk is owned and operated by SFHS.

2. Information we collect about you

The data collected comprises the information given to us when you become a member or in other communications with us. For example:

Your personal details (name, address, email, telephone number etc.) as provided when you join the Society;
your family history interests if submitted on a Members Interest form (paper, electronic, or via the website);
your agreement that SFHS can apply for Gift Aid from HMRC on your membership subscription and any other donations made to the Society;
an indication of which method of payment you use to pay your membership subscription (such as cheque, Standing Order, bank transfer, credit card, PayPal etc.) (N.B. SFHS does not retain any bank details provided);
any skills that might be helpful to SFHS if you list them on the membership application form;
whether or not you agree to your details being passed to other researchers;
the details submitted on registration to use the website, including registering with the Forum if applicable.

We do not collect or hold any sensitive information about you.

3. Why do we collect your information and what do we do with it

The General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) state that organisations must have a lawful basis under which personal data is collected, stored and processed.

The SFHS committee have determined that “legitimate interests” is the appropriate basis given the data collected is used for the legitimate interest of the Society in providing you with the benefits of Society membership and in enabling the Society to operate effective processes on your behalf and on behalf of the Society.

We use the personal data you provide in order to:

enable SFHS to send you the quarterly SFHS Journal (by post or email) and the monthly newsletter (by email);
notify you of meetings held by the Society, including, but not exclusively, our monthly talks, any in-person events organised by the Society, the Talking Family History sessions and the DNA group;
arrange for your bank to set up a standing order for your subscriptions if you have opted to complete the Standing Order Mandate;
include you in our claims for Gift Aid payments from HMRC if you have completed a Gift Aid declaration;
enable us to fulfil orders for goods;
publish your name and area of residence in the quarterly journal;
add your research interests to the Members Interest database on the SFHS website so that other members or researchers can see if they have any shared areas of interest;
contact you in the unlikely event that there is an issue relating to your membership e.g. overpayment on your subscription;
make occasional contact to share information e.g. a reminder that a subscription is due or news of a family history related event.

4. Sharing your information with third parties

We will pass your personal information to third parties for the purposes of complying with your instructions e.g. your bank to set up a Standing Order or HMRC to operate Gift Aid.

We also pass on the details included in the Members Interests returns to the Family History Federation for publication on their website. This does not include any contact information about you.

We will not provide your data to other third parties for marketing purposes.

5. Cookies

Cookies are text files placed on your computer to collect standard internet log information and visitor behaviour. This information is used to track visitor use of the website and to compile statistical reports on website activity. For further information visit www.allaboutcookies.org.

You can set your browser not to accept cookies. The above website provides advice on how to manage cookies if required.

6. How we protect your information

We follow security procedures in the storage and use of information which you have given us, to prevent unauthorised access to, and loss, misuse or alteration of your personal information in accordance with the UK data protection legislation. These include the use of user names and secure passwords to access any data.

7. Correcting your information

You are entitled under Data Protection law to require that we update your personal information to ensure it is up-to-date and accurate. To maintain the accuracy of the information we hold, you can update your personal details by contacting the Secretary [contact details in Section 12] or via the Society website if registered as a member there.

8. Obtaining a copy of your information

You are entitled to receive a copy of the information we hold about you. Details of how to make contact are laid out in section 12.

9. How long we hold your data for

We will only use and store information for as long as it is required for the purposes it was collected for. In most circumstances this is for a maximum of 15 months after you cease to be a member of the Society.

However, if you choose to operate Gift Aid on your membership subscription any information relating to that will be retained for the period stipulated by HMRC, which at the time of preparing this revised policy is 7 years after the last claim is made.

10. Links to third party websites

Our website contains links to other websites belonging to third parties which are not covered by this privacy policy. This means that if an external website requests personal information from you that information is not covered by this policy. We suggest you read the privacy policy of any linked website before providing personal information and note that if you purchase goods or services from them, you will be entering into a contract with them and not with SFHS.

11. Updates to this policy

We will amend this Privacy Policy from time to time to ensure it remains up to date and accurately reflects how we use your personal data. The current version of our Privacy Policy will always be posted on our website.

12. Contacting Us

If you have any questions about privacy, wish to update your details, be removed from our member/mailing list or make a complaint please notify us by sending an e-mail to secretary@sfhs.org.uk or by writing to

Shropshire Family History Society
c/o 48 Oakley Street
Shrewsbury
SY3 7JY

If you are not happy with our response, or if you believe your data protection or privacy rights have been infringed you can complain to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office which regulates and enforces data protection law in the UK. Details of how to do this can be found at www.ico.org.uk

13. Policy version control

Date: 4 March 2025

Version: 3.0

Reason for issue: Policy revised/updated and approved at committee meeting on 4 March 2025