Privacy & Cookie Policy

www.ncmd.co.uk (the “Site”) is produced, owned and maintained by The National Council for Metal Detecting (“We”, “Us”).

The following information will help you to understand how we collect and use the information you provide to Us when using the Site.

Who are We?

The National Council for Metal Detecting can be contacted via Mr Alan Tamblyn, General Secretary, NCMD
PO BOX 13183, GORDON, TD11 9AJ or electronically via the contact form on the Site.

What personal data do we collect?

As you browse the Site it is possible that you could provide Us with up to four types of information:

  1. Anonymous information that is collected by Us via Google Analytics, such as approximate location (country and region), pages visited, return visits and time spent browsing specific pages.
  2. Usage information that is collected by Us via Cookies.
  3. Other sources of usage information that is collected by Us via log files.
  4. Personal information you knowingly choose to disclose via e-mail, form submission or other means which is collected on an individual consensual basis, including, but not limited to, name, e-mail address and telephone number.

Why do we collect this data?

The anonymous browsing data collected by Google Analytics, through server log files and via our Content Management System allows Us to better understand how you use the Site and what Content you choose to read. This may be collated and used at any time during internal reviews which we use to make improvements to the Site design and Content, based on the way you navigate around it.

Our log files do not contain any personal information about you or any of our visitors.

Information collected via form(s) submitted on the Site is used only to fulfil the original purpose of the form, such as applying for membership, making a general enquiry or entering our annual competition. Personal information provided to Us will only be used for the original purpose for which it was provided and for purposes which we have obtained consent for.

Additionally, we may at any time allow you to leave comments on specific pages of the Site. The contents of the comment and the name you have provided will be published on the Site and will be visible to all visitors on the page the comment is located. You may also have to provide an e-mail address along with your comments. However, this is only visible to Us as website administrators and will not be published on the Site as it is only used for identification purposes. You will have to agree to this before your comment is submitted to the Site and posted on the relevant page.

If you choose to correspond with Us via e-mail, we may retain the contents of your e-mail messages together with your e-mail address and our responses.

Do we share this data with anyone?

There are times when your data may be shared with a third party, these are:

  • Anonymous browsing information shared with Google for the purpose of aggregating visitor information using their Analytics platform and using the statistics to continually improve the Site.
  • Transactional information shared with our payment partners, Stripe in order to securely process payments for membership.
  • Your Name & Address details are sent to our external suppliers for the purpose of sending your membership card and our Digging Deep Newsletter.

 

We do not distribute, sell or share your personal data with any other services or third parties and we do not share your information with the above third parties without your prior consent.

What do we do to protect your data?

Information shared between your browser and our Site is encrypted and secured using Secure Socket Layer (SSL/HTTPS) technology, which creates a secure and encrypted medium of data transfer between your browser and our servers and adds a layer of security to prevent malicious attackers obtaining your personal data. We also adopt standard industry operating procedures and internal policies to ensure that your data remains secure.

How long do we retain this data for?

We will retain your personal data for as long as it is necessary for Us to fulfil the purpose for which it was first collected. We periodically evaluate the personal data we hold every 36 months and erase any information we do not have a legitimate reason to hold, unless a longer retention period is required or is necessary for legal reasons.

What rights do you have over the data we hold?

You are permitted by law to transparent communication from Us surrounding the use of your personal data and basic information regarding how we use it and why, outlined here in this Privacy Policy.

You are also permitted by law to exercise your rights of access, rectification, erasure (the right to be forgotten), restriction of processing and of objection. These can be fulfilled by contacting us in writing at the address shown at the beginning of this Privacy Policy or electronically via the contact form on the Site and we will follow our internal procedures to honour such requests.

Additionally, if you are dissatisfied with how your personal data is being used and handled by Us, you have the right to lodge a complaint with a relevant data protection supervisory authority. More information on how to lodge a complaint can be found on the UK Information Commissioner’s Office website: https://ico.org.uk/concerns/.

If you have any questions or queries around the use of your personal data, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

External links to other websites

The Site may at any time contain links to third party websites and we encourage you to read the Privacy Policies of any websites that you choose to visit if you have any concerns. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the Content or the privacy practices of any third-party websites.


Cookie Policy

What are Cookies?

Cookies are small data files, which are stored on your computer or other mobile or handheld device as you browse the Site. They are widely used in order to make the Site function properly and are also a means of providing information to Us about how the Site is being used so that we can make improvements to your browsing experience.

Cookies that allow the Site to function properly

The Site is built on the WordPress platform and certain Cookies may be stored in order to maintain full functionality of the Site:

The Site may at any time allow you to leave comments on certain pages of the Site. In this instance, WordPress stores a series of Cookies called comment_authorcomment_author_e-mail and comment_author_url. This is purely for convenience, so that you will not need to re-type all of your information if you choose to leave further comments. These Cookies are set to expire a little under one year from the time they are set.

The Site may at any time allow you to create an account and log in via the ‘wp-login.php’ page. Upon login, WordPress uses the wordpress_[hash] cookie to store your authentication details. Its use is limited to the admin console area, /wp-admin/. After login, WordPress stores the wordpress_logged_in_[hash] cookie, which indicates when you’re logged in, and who you are. WordPress also sets a number of wp-settings-{time}-[UID] cookies. The number on the end of this cookie is your individual user ID from the user’s database table. This is used to customise your view of admin interface, and possibly also the main Site interface.

The Site makes use of a security plugin called Wordfence which stores a number of cookies to uniquely identify visitors shown to Site administrators for the purposes of Live Traffic reporting and to identify if a user has visited a unique page that has been set to allow the bypassing of country blocking, so that country-blocking does not prevent visitors from viewing the Site.

The Site makes use of a caching plugin called LiteSpeed Cache which stores the _lscache_vary cookie to ensure that logged in users always see non-cached Content, whilst enhancing the browsing speed of the Site for users that are not logged in by providing cached Content.

The Site makes use of a Cookie consent plugin called UK Cookie Consent which stores a Cookie called catAccCookies to record your decision to accept the responsible use of Cookies on the Site.

Third party Cookies

The Site may at any time display embedded video clips from third party websites (for example, but not limited to, those hosted on Vimeo or YouTube). In these instances, the third-party website may also choose to store Cookies and we encourage you to read the Privacy Policies of these websites before viewing any video Content if you have any concerns.

Cookies that provide website usage information

The Site uses Google Analytics to collect website usage information. The Cookies stored for this purpose may be any of the following: ga_gid_gat, AMP_TOKEN_gac_ and _gali. More information on these Cookies can be found here and here.

Usage information collected via Cookies includes dates and times of visits to the Site, pages viewed, general locations of you and other visitors and time spent browsing the Site. We do not utilise Cookies to collect or record information on your name, postal address or other contact or personal details, therefore you or any particular visitor cannot be personally identified.

We do not share any usage data we collect with any other websites, organisations or individuals.

Disabling, deleting and controlling Cookies

Specific instructions on how to disable, delete or control Cookies in your web browser can be obtained from your software provider. Alternatively, please visit the aboutcookies.org website which also has a wealth of information on controlling and deleting Cookies.

If you do not accept Cookies from the Site, some functionality may cease to work

We cannot guarantee a satisfactory browsing experience without the use of Cookies and would like to stress that in no way whatsoever do we utilise Cookies for any misleading purpose. We ask you to trust Us as your preferred source of information and are happy to discuss any queries or concerns you have before you decide to make full use of the Site.

Changes to our Privacy and Cookie Policy

We reserve the right to modify this Privacy and Cookie Policy at any time without prior notice. Any changes will be updated on this page and it is your responsibility to ensure that you have made yourself aware of any such changes before continuing to browse the Site any further.

Any questions?

If you have any questions regarding our Privacy and Cookie Policy, please get in touch.