Privacy Policy

The Observatory Science Centre (OSC) / Science Projects Ltd are committed to ensuring your privacy is protected. We understand that privacy and the security of your personal information is extremely important.

This privacy & cookies policy from Science Projects Ltd covers how we collect, use, disclose, transfer and store your data as well as your rights over any personal information we hold about you.

We may modify this Policy from time to time so please check this page occasionally to ensure that you’re happy with any changes. By using our website, you’re agreeing to be bound by this policy.

Who are we?  The Observatory Science Centre (OSC) is part of Science Projects Ltd, a company with charitable status dedicated to the promotion of science for everyone which now operates both in the UK and overseas.

Science Projects was established in 1986 to design and build a travelling science centre to tour the UK and take science to the public. Since then the scope has widened to include an ambitious undertaking to establish a Science Centre embracing the historic domes and telescopes of the former home of The Royal Greenwich Observatory at Herstmonceux.  The centre was opened by Sir Patrick Moore in 1995 with the aim of promoting public involvement with science and technology through interactive hands-on exhibitions, educational events and activities, and celebrating the site’s historic links with The Royal Greenwich Observatory. He declared that the Observatory had been ‘Saved for Science’.

The vision was to establish a place where people could explore, discover and learn for themselves. Since opening, this unique science centre has gone from strength to strength, offering ‘Spectacular Science’ and discovery amongst the domes and telescopes of a world famous observatory.

The OSC now welcomes over 60,000 visitors annually including over 20,000 school children and engaging many more through outreach activities in the region.

Science Projects is an educational charity (298542) and a limited company (02186073).

The policy in brief  It is important that you read the full policy to understand what information we hold, how we may use it, and what your rights are – but if you don’t have time to read it all now, here’s a quick summary:

We only collect the information that we need or is useful to us in our quest to provide the best possible service.  This information may be personal or non-personal data (IP addresses, pages accessed etc.).

We collect information about the people who are involved with OSC such as visitors, supporters, event attendees, employees and volunteers.

We collect information to provide goods / services, to provide information, for administration, fundraising, research, profiling and analysis.

We do our best to keep personal information secure, including SSL technology (secure server software) wherever we collect personal data online.

We only share data where we are required to do so by law and we never share data with another company or charity for marketing purposes.

This policy refers to the website, our use of emails for marketing purposes and any other methods we have for collecting information. It covers what we collect and why, what we do and don’t do with the information and what rights you have.

How do we collect information from you?  Our website uses cookies so we obtain information about you when you use our website e.g. when you buy goods and services online, contact us about products and services, make a donation or if you register to receive one of our newsletters.

What information do we collect & hold about you?  Personal data is any data that identifies you as an individual. We only collect personal data about you which is legal and necessary to the services we provide, or for which you give us explicit consent, for example to keep you informed about our work.

Information that you provide to us such as your name, business name, address (home/work) date of birth, telephone number (home/ work), email address (home / work), IP address, bank account and payment card details and any feedback you give to us, including by phone, email, post, or when you communicate with us via social media.

Information about the services provided to you, such as service description, date, location and payment amount.

Your contact details and details of the emails and other electronic communications you receive from us. If you make an online purchase from us, your card information is not held by us, it is collected by our third party payment processors, who specialise in the secure online capture and processing of credit/debit card transactions.

Who has access to your information?  All personal data is processed by our staff / volunteers in the UK.

OSC will never disclose personal information with third parties unless you give us specific approval to do so. The only exception would be instances required or permitted by law.

The OSC website is hosted by 21st Century Internet Ltd. Their data protection processes are in line with our processes / policies and can be found on their site http://www.web21st.net

How do we use your information?  The information we collect may be used to:

·         Make our services and products available to you.

·         Process your orders, deliver products and communicate with you about orders.

·         Take payment / refund, donations and other financial transactions.

·         Fulfil your requests for bookings.

·         Help answer your questions and solve any visitor issues.

·         Send you information about events if you have agreed to receive information newsletters etc.

·         To aid our understanding of how our website is being used and how we can improve it. This process is conducted using aggregated data, and cannot be used to identify any specific individual's data.

We will require different information for different reasons and the amount of information will vary depending upon your interaction with OSC in order to make our services available to you.

e.g. certain information will have been required for administrative purposes if you have purchased tickets to the OSC, to events or for other products or services so that we could process payment and send you tickets and then have communication with you about those services.

Other examples include: annual membership, participation in a project, general email enquiries, consultancy, services, face-to-face meetings, exchanging business cards etc.

If you are attending one of our courses or events it may also be necessary to ask information about you or your requirements (dietary, carers, access etc.).

We may also record any contact we have with you.

If you have completed a feedback form / questionnaire, or asked for further information about our services then we may also keep a record of your correspondence.

How long do we hold your information?  We will keep your personal data for as long as is necessary for the relevant activity, or as long as is set out in any relevant contract you hold with us. This period will be compliant with legislation, and after such time it will be destroyed. We store information both on computers and in paper files.

We are legally required to hold some types of information to fulfil our statutory obligations: i.e. the collection of Gift Aid, personal data relating to contracts and services etc.

Sensitive personal information relating to your use of our services (for example, information on your health needs or your disabilities) will only be kept for as long as is required to deliver those services, after which time it will be destroyed.

Keeping you informed about our products and services  We would like to tell you what is going on at OSC – latest news, upcoming events, special offers etc. that we think you might be interested in.

We only send marketing information to people who have specifically said they agree to us doing so. Where you have consented we may do this through the post, by email, online, using social media or other electronic means.

If you have registered with us to receive marketing communication we will contact you from time to time. If you change your mind you can opt out at any time by replying to the email you have received, or by directly emailing info@the-observatory.org or calling 01323 832731

We use MailChimp to manage our newsletters and you can unsubscribe at any time through their system. Please read their privacy policy.

Membership Scheme  If you join OSC Membership Scheme we will need information in order to meet the scheme commitments:

·         Operate your membership and contact you about OSC and its activities

·         Keep records of our members

·         Improve our services

Lapsed (expired) members

If you choose not to take out further memberships once expired, you become a 'lapsed member'.  If you wish your details to be immediately permanently removed you should contact membership@the-observatory.org.

As a lapsed member you may still receive occasional newsletters and notifications from OSC. Your email address & name will be on our email list of 'lapsed members' held by MailChimp, from which you may receive newsletter notifications of events and activities at OSC. We never share this data with third parties.

If you do not wish to receive these emails please 'unsubscribe' and your data will be removed. 

Access and correction of your personal information You have the right to access the personal information we hold about you in many circumstances.

This is sometimes called a ‘Subject Access Request’. If we agree that we are obliged to provide personal information to you (or someone else on your behalf), we will usually provide it to you or to them free of charge. However where the request is manifestly unfounded or excessive we may charge a reasonable fee for the administrative costs of complying with the request.

Before providing personal information to you or another person on your behalf, we will ask for proof of identity and sufficient information about your interactions with us that we can locate your personal information.

If any of the personal information we hold about you is inaccurate or out of date, you may ask us to correct it. If you would like to exercise these rights, please contact us as set out below.

Right to stop or limit our processing of your data You have the right to object to us processing your personal information if we are not entitled to use it any more, to have your information deleted if we are keeping it too long or have its processing restricted in certain circumstances. If you would like to exercise this right, please contact us as set out below.

Sharing your thoughts When using our website or mobile applications, you may be able to share information through social networks like Facebook and Twitter. For example when you ‘like’, ‘share’ or ‘review’.  When doing this your personal information may be visible to the providers of those social networks, their other users and Science Projects Ltd

Please remember it is your responsibility to set appropriate privacy settings on your social network accounts so you are comfortable with how your information is used and shared on them.

Links to third party websites Our website may contain links to enable you to easily visit other websites of interest. However, once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over that other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites and they are not governed by our privacy policy.   You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the website in question.

Security  OSC is committed to ensuring that your information is secure. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.

CCTV If you visit The Observatory Science Centre site you should be aware that CCTV is operating to protect our staff, volunteers, stock, property and buildings and to ensure the safety and welfare of everyone on site.

Images are recorded 24 hours a day and are retained securely by us for a maximum period of 28 days before being fully deleted, unless we are required to retain them for the purposes of a criminal or other legal investigation.

We do not share any CCTV data except in the event of a criminal investigation or for the purposes of Insurance claims.

You may request to see a copy of CCTV recording of yourself only, by writing to us with a specific time and date, proof of your identity and a physical description of yourself. A fee of £10 is chargeable for this service. In all cases the footage will be edited so as to protect the identities of other people.  We have the right to refuse any request if it would put a criminal or insurance investigation at risk.

Use of Cookies  A cookie is a small file which asks permission to be placed on your computer’s hard drive and allows web applications to respond to you as an individual. The cookie helps analyse web traffic or lets you know when you visit a particular site. The web application can tailor its operations to your needs, likes and dislikes by gathering and remembering information about your preferences.

OSC in common with many major websites uses Google Analytics, a tool that helps us make improvements by gaining a better understanding of how people use our website. Google Analytics employs cookies to collect anonymous information and does not identify individual users nor contain any personal information

Compliance Cookie:  This cookie is placed if the "OK" button is clicked in Cookie Policy alert box. Once you have given your consent to the use of cookies on our site this message is prevented from displaying. If you wish to remove cookies from your computer or device, please refer to your browser settings.

Analytics Cookies: we use Google Analytics traffic log cookies to identify which pages are being used to help analyse data about web page traffic and improve our website in order to tailor it to customer needs. We only use this information for statistical analysis purposes and then the data is removed from the system.

Third Party Cookies: We may use a number of social media tools to enhance visitor interaction on our site. If you already use these platforms their cookies may be set through our website. Data may then be collected by these companies that enables them to serve up adverts on other sites that they think are relevant to your interests. If you do not use such platforms then our site will not place these cookies on your device.

Functional Cookies: These cookies are used to enable core site functionality. They do not contain any personal information and are automatically deleted when you close your browser.

Overall, cookies help us provide you with a better website, by enabling us to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not. A cookie in no way gives us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us.

Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser settings to decline cookies if you prefer. Blocking cookies may prevent you from taking full advantage of the website.

Further information on how to control or delete cookies visit: http://www.aboutcookies.org

Your acceptance of this policy and OSC right to change it  By using our website, social media pages, signing up to receive our emails and providing your information you consent to our collection and use of the information you provide in the way(s) set out in this policy. If you do not agree to this policy please do not use our website, social media pages or services.

We may make changes to this policy from time to time. If we do so we will post changes on this page and they will apply with immediate effect. This policy was published October 2018

Contact us 

If you would like to exercise one of your rights or you have a question or a complaint about this policy, the way your personal information is processed etc. please contact us by one of the following means:

By email: info@the-observatory.org
By post: Operations Director, The Observatory Science Centre, Herstmonceux, East Sussex. BN27 1RN

If you have already contacted us with a complaint and you are not satisfied with our response, or believe we are processing your personal data not in accordance with the law, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). https://ico.org.uk/concerns.