Privacy Policy

Your privacy is protected by law. This section explains how this works.

Data Protection law says that we are allowed to use personal information only if we have a proper reason to do so. This includes sometimes sharing it outside the Vermuyden Lodge 9482.

The law says we must have one or more of these reasons:

• To fulfil a contract we have with you, or
• When it is our legal duty, or
• When it is in our legitimate interest, or
• When you consent to it

A legitimate interest is when we have a business or commercial reason to use your information although even then it must not unfairly go against what is right and best for you.

We may collect personal data about you, including for example if you have supplied it to us your name, phone number and email address.

Examples of the sources of data we collect about you:

• Contact form
• Membership form
• Event applications
• Contact form
• When you talk to us on the telephone, personally or communicate with us via our website
• In emails and letters
• When you use our website
• Cookies
• Payment and transactional data

GDPR law says that we can only use your personal information if we have a proper reason to do so. This includes sharing your data with third parties. We may process your personal data for the following purposes, if relevant;

• Administer your membership with he Vermuyden Lodge 9482
• Responding to your enquiries
• Provide you with information about Freemasonry
• Inviting you to meetings and social events
• Tailor your experience on our website
• Respond to complaints and seek to resolve them

We process this data on the basis of our legitimate interest to run the Vermuyden Lodge 9482 in an efficient and proper way for the benefit of our lodge and its members. This includes managing our financial position, planning, audit, communications and business capability. We also process your personal data where required to comply with laws and regulations that apply to us.

Data is stored on a secure server to prevent unauthorised access. No data held by the Vermuyden Lodge 9482 will be supplied outside the European Economic Area (EEA) other than to companies that are signed up to the Privacy Shield. https://www.privacyshield.gov

There are various lengths of time that data is kept for depending on need and other laws that we adhere to. You have the right to be forgotten within our database as long as there isn't an over-riding legitimate need.

Unless we explain otherwise to you, we'll hold your personal information based on the following retention periods for personal data:

• Membership records - for as long as we have reasonable membership needs
• Events - for as long as we have reasonable membership needs
• When you contact us, we’ll keep the personal data you give us for as long as we have reasonable needs so we can comply with our legal and contractual obligations.

We will treat your personal information as private and confidential, but may disclose it outside of the Vermuyden Lodge 9482 if:

• You consent
• Needed by third parties to help manage your records (such as our server company).
• HM Revenue and Customs or other statutory authorities who require it
• The Law or the public interest permits and requires it
• Required by us or others to investigate or prevent crime

We sometimes share your personal data with trusted third parties. For example, the Lodges that meet in the Crowle Masonic Centre, The United Grand Lodge of England, The Provincial Grand Lodge of Lincolnshire and our caterers.

Here’s the policy we apply to those organisations to keep your data safe and protect your privacy:

• We provide only the information they need to perform their specific services.
• They may only use your data for the exact purposes we specify in our contract with them.

Examples of the kind of third parties we work with are:

• The United Grand Lodge of England
• The Provincial Grand Lodge of Warwickshire
• IT companies who may support our Lodge

We do not share data with third parties for their own purposes.

You have the right to ask us to provide you with access to and rectification or erasure of your personal data. Providing you with this information is free of charge, but charges may apply for excessive requests. You have the right to ask us to provide you or a third party with the personal data you have provided to us in an electronic format.

You have the right to object to certain purposes for processing, in particular general information email messages.

If you wish to raise a complaint on how we have handled your personal data, you can contact our Data Compliance Officer who will investigate the matter further.

If you wish to stop us from providing you with information via email then you can opt out at any time by contacting our lodge secretary directly.

Should you be unhappy with our processing of your personal data, you have a right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office, which is the regulator for data protection.

Any changes we make to this policy in the future will be available on our website (www.vermuyden9482) as well as available on request by contacting our Data Compliance Officer.

In the event that we believe there is a serious breach to our systems or data we will inform the Information Commissioner's Office within 72 hours and will inform the affected members as soon as practically possible thereafter. 

If you have any questions about this Privacy Notice, or if you wish to exercise your rights or contact the Data Compliance Officer, you can contact us by going to the contact section of our website. Alternatively, you can write to the Data Compliance Officer at Vermuyden Lodge 9482, Park View, Crowle, North Lincolnshire, DN17 4JA.