Privacy Policy

Ventnor Friends of Wight Horticulture – Privacy Statement

  1. Who we are:

Ventnor Friends of Wight Horticulture (VFWH) is a charitable incorporated organisation (CIO) registered in England and Wales – registered charity number: 1174751. Our website is:

vfwh.org.uk  

This means that VFWH are the “Data Controllers” of this website. We operate this website to communicate with our members and to promote horticulture and horticultural education on the Isle of Wight. We use the lawful basis of consent, legitimate interests and compliance with a legal obligation for processing personal data. References to “we”, “us” or “our” in this privacy statement are references to VFWH.

We do not use third parties to process personal data

Preservation of your privacy is important to VFWH and we are committed to letting you know how we use your personal information, keeping personal data safe and secure and to making only responsible use of your data. We ask you to read this Privacy Notice in full prior to your engagement and if you have any questions or concerns to contact us at: admin@vfwh.org.uk

  1. Why we have a website

There are two main purposes for operating this website: Communication and Raising awareness.

Communication

We use this website to communicate information about our organisation, services, events and about information that may be of interest to our members and the wider public. We also operate this website to enable our users to communicate with us, in addition, we maintain a presence on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.

Raising awareness  

We use this website to further our mission to provide information and educational material about horticulture and horticultural education on the Isle of Wight.

  1. What personal data do we collect

In order to operate our services and this website, we must process personal data. In all instances, we endeavour to collect the minimal amount of information necessary to achieve our purposes. We use the lawful basis of consent, legitimate interests and compliance with a legal obligation for processing personal data.

Membership

VFWH is a membership organisation and as a result, we ask for some basic personal information from you as an individual.

This information will include your full name, email address and phone number. We also may ask for some non-personal data (e.g. how you heard about VFWH). You are responsible for making sure you give us accurate and up to date information.

 

Please note: If you provide information on behalf of another person, you will need to tell them how to find this privacy statement and make sure they agree to us using their information for the purposes set out in it.

  1. How we use your personal data

We use your personal information to manage your membership account and to provide the services you have requested from us.

We never share your information with third parties.

Member communications

As a member of VFWH, you may receive relevant communications from us (e.g. information on outings, talks and other events). Signing up as a member or supporter includes automatic subscription to these communication channels. From time to time, we may also contact you to ask you to engage with various campaigns we run on behalf of VFWH.

You have the right to withdraw your consent from receiving our communications at any time. For more information, see section 5 below. You can unsubscribe from communication channels without affecting your membership of VFWH.

Sharing personal data

We never share your information with third parties.

  1. Your Data Subject Rights

VFWH as an organisation is committed to ensuring the rights and freedoms of our website users and members are respected and that you as a data subject are enabled to exercise your rights. Under data protection law, you have specific rights including

To update your data

If you wish to access or rectify personal data that has been collected or if you wish to receive any personal data we hold on you, please contact us at: admin@vfwh.org.uk and we will respond to your request within one calendar month.

To delete your data

If you wish to have your data removed entirely from our records, please contact us at: admin@vfwh.org.uk and we will respond to your request within one calendar month.

Please note that for legal reasons we are required to keep financial/transactional records for a minimum period of six years from the end of the financial year in which the transaction was made.

To withdraw your consent

If you wish to withdraw your consent from receiving our email communications, please contact us at: admin@vfwh.org.uk

To object to, or restrict data processing

If you object to the processing of your personal data, or wish to restrict the way in which it is processed by us, please contact: admin@vfwh.org.uk and we will respond as soon as possible. Please note that this may affect our ability to deliver our services to you.

  1. How long we retain your data

We retain your personal data for as long as is considered necessary for the purpose for which it was collected (including as required by applicable law or regulation, typically 6 years). In addition, personal data may be securely archived with restricted access (and other appropriate safeguards) where there is a need to continue to retain it.

We will ask you on a regular basis to update your membership details with VFWH.

Financial records, including membership fees, will be retained for a minimum period of six years from the end of the financial year in order to comply with statutory obligations.

  1. How we keep personal data safe

The VFWH website processes a small amount of personal data. However, we take our duty to protect this data very seriously and have in place technical and organisational safeguards to do this.

Examples of technical safeguards include regular security testing; website backups; disaster recovery systems, cryptography hash functions, autolocking, lock-outs and data restoration

Examples of organisational safeguards include access controls to personal data; staff training; organisational policies, procedures, and handbooks.

To the best of our ability, we will keep any personal data safe. However, no system or transmission over the Internet is 100% secure. This means that we are unable to absolutely guarantee the security of personal data.

If you become aware of something that gives your concern about the security of your personal data, please contact us at: admin@vfwh.org.uk

  1. Our Social Media Presence

We have a presence on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. These accounts are used to post information such as notices about our events and to promote the activities of our members by reposting appropriate content. Occasionally, we may run a competition or promotion through these channels.

Please be aware that any responses to our content on these platforms is done through your own choice, at your own risk and without expectation of privacy. We say this because we are not able to control how other users on these platforms may act. We are also not able to control how these platforms may use your personal data nor do we endorse how these services use personal data.

  1. Questions or complaints

If you have questions or a complaint about the way your personal data has been processed by VFWH, please email us at: admin@vfwh.org.uk and we will look in to this for you as a matter of priority.

If you wish to take your complaint further, you can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which is the independent regulatory authority who exist to uphold information rights in the UK. For more information, visit their website or call their helpline on 0303 123 1113.

 

 

This notice may be updated from time to time: Last updated June 2025