Walk Church Privacy policy

This privacy policy explains the data we hold, how we treat your data and what your rights you have. If you are still unsure about anything, or if there is something not covered, or you have a query please contact us.

Who are we?

Walk Church is run by Rev’d Alexander Bienfait, Walk Church operates as part of the Ashford Town Parish. Alex has permission to officiate as a priest within the Church of England (Anglican) Diocese of Canterbury. Contact us via the detail on our Contact page

What information do we collect and why?

• For insurance purposes we are required to take details of all those who participate in Walks. It also enables us to get back in contact should an issue arise.
• We take photographs to help support publicity. These photos may appear on our website, and our Facebook page. (Please contact us if you see yourself in a photo that you wish removed from our publicity)
• We hold email addresses, and for some address and contact details for those on our email mailing list, essential for sending out our email bulletin.
• If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognise and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.

How long do we store it?

At present data is stored indefinitely, and following GDPR guidelines we keep records of those who unsubscribe.

Where do we store it, and with whom do we share it?

The register of those who come on walks are held on files stored within Dropbox. See their privacy policy.

Subscribers details to our emails are stored with the mailing program: MailChimp, See their privacy policy.

Photos are stored with Dropbox and iCloud – Link to Apple Privacy policy

What is the legal basis on which we collect, store and share data?

Contractual obligation: To fulfill the conditions of our insurance cover we collect this data. Those who participate on walks provide consent by default.

Consent: subscribers to our email newsletter have given their explicit consent for us to use their email address for that purpose.

Legitimate interest: we use details of enquirers to pursue our legitimate interests in a way which might reasonably be expected as part of running Walk Church and which does not materially impact their rights, freedom or interests. We may send them our newsletter for a period a a year or until they unsubscribe, whichever comes first.

Privacy policy and cookies

A cookie is a piece of data that is stored on the user’s computer. It provides information about that user’s use of a website, without revealing who the user is.

We use cookies to collect anonymised and aggregated data of visits and pathways through the website, through Google Analytics. As it is anonymised, we cannot trace individual visitors with these data.

We use anonymised data to understand website patterns of visitor behaviour on our website and to implement improvements.

Walkchurch.org.uk cannot identify visitors through the data we collect about their pathway through the site.

Read how Google uses the data when you use our website. This page also explains how you can disable this form of data collection if you do not wish it.

Google store analytics data for 50 months and then delete it automatically.

If you use your browser’s ‘private’ or ‘incognito’ mode, your visit will not be counted as part of this data.

What are your rights over your data?

We will respond within 30 days to all requests regarding your data. You have the right:

• to ask that we declare what data we are storing about you;
• to request that we delete your data or photo;
• to have the data sent to you in a portable digital format, for another company to use;
• to restrict us from processing your data;
• to rectify your data if it is wrong or out of date;
• to unsubscribe from our newsletter — a prominent Unsubscribe button is provided for that purpose;
• disable the Google Analytics function by means of a browser add-on to ensure the prevention of the sending of any analytical information to Google.

What happens in case of a data breach?

A data breach is defined as “the accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration unauthorised disclosure of, or access to, personal data”.

If we become aware of a data breach that concerns you, we will contact you immediately as part of our efforts to limit the damage caused.

We will notify the ICO immediately if possible, but within 72 hours at the latest.

Please direct any complaints about the ways we handle your data to the Information Commissioner’s Office.