Privacy Policy



This privacy policy explains what personal information the Hardy Plant Society (HPS)  collects about you, and how and why we use that information. Your privacy, and security of your personal information are of the highest importance to us. The policy also sets out how the HPS uses and protects any information that you give the Society when you use its website. Should we ask you to provide certain information by which you can be identified when using the HPS website, then you can be assured that it will only be used in accordance with this privacy statement.  The Hardy Plant Society may change its policy from time to time by updating this page. You should check this page from time to time to ensure that you are happy with any changes.

Who we are

The HPS is a membership organisation, which exists to promote interest in and conservation of hardy herbaceous perennial plants. The Officers of the HPS act as the Society’s data controller for the purposes of the GDPR. The HPS employs administrative staff who are the Society’s data processors.

Why we keep personal data and our legal basis for doing so

The HPS keeps and uses members’ personal data to enable the Society to operate efficiently and to provide our membership with the services they have paid for. To do this the Society needs to know who our members are and to be able to communicate with them. The Society is therefore adopting the legal basis of ‘Legitimate Interest’ to justify holding and using your personal data. The Officers are satisfied that it is in the legitimate interests of the HPS to maintain this data, that it is necessary and proportionate to do so and that the purposes for which the data is used cannot be achieved in any other, less intrusive, way.

This Notice applies only to data provided to and processed by the HPS. The protection and use of personal information that you provide to any group registered with the HPS or to any organisation advertising with us or to which we provide a website link is the responsibility of that group or organisation and is governed by their privacy policy.

It does not apply to group contacts, officers , postholders and trustees of the HPS where we openly publish contact details. It also does not apply to authors, photographers, illustrators, speakers and plant breeders where we are delighted to recognise their hard work by publishing their name.

Personal Data

The personal data that you provide will be stored as paper and/or computer records by the Hardy Plant Society and used for administrative purposes only. It will not be disclosed to anyone outside the Society, its local and special interest groups and relevant printing company (see below)  without your permission. If you are concerned about the methods used to store your data, please contact us: admin@hardy-plant.org.uk , telephone 01386 710317 or write to: Hardy Plant Society, 3 Basepoint Business Centre, Crab Apple Way, Evesham, WR11 1GP.

What we keep and what we do with it

The HPS stores and uses your contact details as provided by you either directly to ourselves or via one of the local or specialist groups registered with the HPS. Those details are your name, address (and alternative address if provided), telephone number,  email address and company (where applicable). We also keep a record of your membership number, the date you joined (if after 22.01.2014), your method of payment, when you last paid and your group membership. We also keep a record of any orders you make through our website.

Any financial information that you provide to us is securely destroyed or deleted as soon as your order is processed. We do not keep any bank details. If you have gift-aided your subscription we retain your signed gift-aid form. 
We use the data to send you HPS publications for which you have paid and reminders to renew your membership, if required. We may also send you information about HPS events.

We receive membership lists from local groups once a year and check these against our data to help ensure that the data we hold is correct and that group members are also members of the HPS. The information is held electronically and regularly backed up to external hard drive. Both are password protected. 
We regularly back up and encrypt personal data we collect through our website. The company, Cotswold Web,  which maintains and upgrades our website also has access to this data.

When we transition to a cloud-based system we will ensure that all necessary security is provided.

Gift Aid forms are currently held in paper copy in a locked filing cabinet but may in future be scanned and stored electronically. Where paper copies of application forms and subscription renewal forms have been submitted, these are also held in locked filing cabinets and retained for 12 months in case of any queries.

The Seed Distribution Coordinator retains all seed order forms for 6 months to enable orders to be sent out and any queries to be answered.

Who we share it with

Contact details of individual members may be shared with Officers or Postholders of the HPS on request for the purpose of fulfilling their HPS duties. All Officers and Postholders agree to abide by privacy and security requirements when processing your data. We will not share a member’s details with any other members. 
We do not and will not share your information with anyone outside of the HPS, with the following exceptions: -

  • Your name, address and membership number are provided to the relevant printing company for the purpose of mailing HPS publications.  We have a contract  with those companies that ensures that your data is held securely and deleted after use;
  • Data may be provided to and exchanged with the appropriate Officer of registered local or specialist groups of the HPS of which the individual is a member.

How long we keep it

At the present time we are unable to completely delete your membership record from our system. If you leave the HPS we will remove your data from our active files to an archive. However, we are in the process of replacing our IT systems and we aim to have a new technology in place within the next 12 months. Only active members will be transferred to the new system and all old data will then be able to be erased.

Once the new system is operational, our policy will be to retain your personal data for the duration of your membership of the HPS and for 12 weeks after your last payment becomes due unless you tell us that you do not wish to re-join. If you inform us that you are cancelling your membership all your data will be deleted from the electronic record as soon as possible and in any event within 4 weeks from us receiving that information.

Our accounts and supporting documents are retained in accordance with HMRC and Charity Commission requirements.

Your rights under the GDPR

You have the right to:

  • Be informed about the collection and use of your personal data
  • Access the data held (a copy of your data will be provided on request)
  • Have any inaccuracies in your data corrected
  • Request your details be deleted from our records
  • Request that the use of your personal data is restricted

You have the right to object to the use of your personal data at any time. If you wish to exercise any of the rights outlined above please contact the HPS Office on admin@hardy-plant.org.uk , telephone 01386 710317 or write to: Hardy Plant Society, 3 Basepoint Business Centre, Crab Apple Way, Evesham, WR11 1GP.
If you have any concerns about the way in which your data is being handled, you can report this to the Information Commissioner’s Office by phoning the helpline:
0303 123 1113.

Online Security

We are 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.

Use of Cookies

Cookies are small text files that are stored on your computer when you use a website.

Without cookies some features of the HPS website will not work.  Our cookies do NOT include any personal details such as your name, address or any financial details.  We also use Google Analytics, which may store three further cookies,  so that we can obtain information on the number of visitors and the popularity of various pages. Google does not provide us with information on your visiting habits as an individual.

Links and Advertisements

These are carried as a service and we do not endorse any advertiser or any website etc. that we supply a link to. Our actual links may indicate that you have been referred from this site although it will not identify you as an individual. We do not ask our advertisers to supply information on who has used a link although we may discuss quantities of users when negotiating terms.