Taking care of your personal data is important to us. This policy includes details of when and why we collect your personal information, how we use it and how we keep it secure. It also provides information about your privacy rights and how to contact us.

We update the policy from time to time when information changes, so please check back regularly.

Who are we?

Wonderseekers is a registered charity on a mission to spark children’s curiosity in science. Our Registered Charity Number is 294582. Wonderseekers is also a company and our Company Number is 2014929.

Sparking Curiosity Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of Wonderseekers that trades on the Charity’s behalf, such as running the commercial activity at Winchester Science Centre, such as its onsite café and shop, and exists to support its charitable mission.

Wonderseekers is the data controller of your personal data.

Under this policy, “Wonderseekers”, “we”, “us” and “our” refers to the Wonderseekers Charity.

What lawful bases do we rely on to use your personal data?

You have provided your consent to us using your personal data for a specific purpose:

We will ask for your consent to use your personal data to send you marketing emails. You always have the right to withdraw your consent at any time.

It is necessary in connection with the performance of a contract with you:

Sometimes it is necessary to process your personal data so that we can enter into contractual relationships with you. For example, if you purchase something from our website, or become a member of Winchester Science Centre, or donate online, we will require your personal data to enable us to perform our agreement.

It is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject:

This would include where we have to retain certain records, for example, to manage health and safety, for the detection and prevention of crime, safeguarding obligations, for maintaining suppression lists to ensure we comply with marketing laws, for tax reasons (such as those related to gift aid donations) and undertaking due diligence before accepting certain donations or entering into certain relationships.

It is within our legitimate interests:

Applicable law allows personal data to be collected and used if it is reasonably necessary for our legitimate interests or a third party’s legitimate interests (as long as the processing is fair, balanced and does not unduly impact on an individuals’ rights). We will rely on this ground to process your personal data when it is not practical or appropriate to ask for your consent, and where we are confident that this will not affect your rights.

Our legitimate interests include raising funds for a wide range of activities to support our charitable objectives.

We will also rely on our legitimate interests for the proper administration of Wonderseekers, and to manage our operations (for example, maintaining appropriate records and databases, for the detection and prevention of crime and safeguarding all those who access our premises and facilities).

When we process your personal data to achieve such legitimate interests, we consider and balance any potential impact on you (both positive and negative), and your rights under data protection laws. We will not use your personal data for activities where our interests are overridden by the impact on you, for example where use would be excessively intrusive (unless, for instance, we are otherwise required or permitted to by law).

How do we collect information from you?

When you give it to us directly

You give us your personal data in order to receive information from us; visit our facilities; buy products or services from us; volunteer, donate, respond to a survey or when you engage with us on our websites and digital products.

When a third party provides us with your personal data

When individuals purchase gift membership to Winchester Science Centre on your behalf; ticket agencies that sell tickets to access Winchester Science Centre or our events; partner organisations who host and run events at our premises or run competitions or prize draws jointly with us.

Data sharing

In certain circumstances, we may receive your details from charitable giving platforms such as Just Giving, in accordance with a particular platform’s privacy policy. For example, if you donate to Wonderseekers through an online platform, they may then give us your address so that we can write to you and say thank you. Please review any such policies before giving your data to these platforms, to ensure that you are happy for your data to be shared in this way.

When you use our websites

We collect personal data about you when you use our websites and digital products. Whenever you input personal data into our website (for example, if you become a member or renew a membership online or otherwise support us through our website, book a visit online or download any of our resources), we will collect the personal data that you give to us.

We use “cookies” to identify you when you visit our websites and digital products to help us to understand our website users and enable us to improve the website experience for you and/or other users.

Cookies provide information regarding the computer used by a visitor. We may use cookies where appropriate to gather information about your computer in order to assist us in improving our website.

We may gather information about your general internet use by using the cookie. Where used, these cookies are downloaded to your computer and stored on the computer’s hard drive. Such information will not identify you personally. It is statistical data. This statistical data does not identify any personal details whatsoever.
You can adjust the settings on your computer to decline any cookies if you wish. This can easily be done by activating the reject cookies setting on your computer.

Cookies used on this website:

  • winchestersciencecentre_session
  • XSRF-TOKEN

We link our website directly to other sites. This privacy policy does not cover external websites and we are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of those sites. We encourage you to read the privacy policies of any external websites you visit.

In operating our website data that we collect from you is stored within the United Kingdom. By providing your personal data to us, you agree to this. We do our upmost to ensure that all reasonable steps are taken to make sure that your data is treated and stored securely.

What sort of information do we hold?

Information that you provide to us such as your name, address, date of birth, telephone number, email address, 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 that we provide to you (including for example, the things we have provided to you, when and where, what you paid, the way you use our products and services, and so on);

Your contact details and details of the emails and other electronic communications you receive from us, including whether that communication has been opened and if you have clicked on any links within that communication. We want to make sure that our communications are useful for you, so if you don’t open them or don’t click on any links in them, we know we need to improve our services.

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, as explained below.

How do we use your information?

The information we collect may be used to:

  • Make available our services to you;
  • Process your orders;
  • Take payment from you or give you a refund;
  • 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;
  • Help us ensure that our customers are genuine and to prevent fraud;
  • To help us understand more about you as a customer through statistical analysis. This process is conducted using aggregated data, and cannot be used to identify any specific individual's data.
  • Contact you about products and services from us and other companies.
  • Provide for the safety and security of our colleagues and customers
  • Help answer your questions and solve any issues you have.

International transfers of your information

From time to time we may transfer your personal information to our group companies, suppliers or service providers based outside of the EEA for the purposes described in this privacy policy (i.e. we use Mailchimp to manage our customer emails). If we do this your personal information will continue to be subject to one or more appropriate safeguards set out in the law. These might be the use of model contracts in a form approved by regulators, or having our suppliers sign up to an independent privacy scheme approved by regulators.

Keeping you informed about our products and services

We would like to tell you what is going on and about future events that we think you might be interested in. Where you have consented to us doing so, we may do this through the post, by email, online, using social media or other electronic means.

We won't send you marketing messages if you tell us not to but we will still need to send you occasional service-related messages. If you would prefer not to receive these messages please unsubscribe via any of our Mailchimp e-newsletters or email hello@wonderseekers.charity

Access and correction of your personal information

You have the right to access the personal information that 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 provide it to you or them free of charge.

Before providing personal information to you or another person on your behalf, we may 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.

How long do we keep your information for?

We review our retention periods for personal information on a regular basis. We are legally required to hold some types of information to fulfil our statutory obligations (i.e. the collection of Gift Aid). We will hold your personal information on our systems 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.

Who has access to your information?

Third Party Service Providers working on our behalf: We may pass your information to our third party service providers, agents subcontractors and other associated organisations for the purposes of completing tasks and providing services to you on our behalf (for example to process payments and send you mailings). However, when we use third party service providers, we disclose only the personal information that is necessary to deliver the service and we have a contract in place that requires them to keep your information secure and not to use it for their own direct marketing purposes.

We will never share your information with third parties, unless you give us specific approval to do so, or we are required to do so by any relevant legislation.

Sharing your thoughts

When using one of our websites 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 our services. When doing this your personal information may be visible to the providers of those social networks, their other users and/or Wonderseekers. 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.

Contact us

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

By email: hello@wonderseekers.charity

By post: Director of Finance and Operations (Data Controller), Wonderseekers, Telegraph Way, Winchester, SO21 1HZ

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK regulator. Visit the Information Commissioner to find out more.