Privacy Policy

This notice sets out the details of the West Highland Museum’s Privacy Notice in
relation to information collected about you.

1. General information

The West Highland Museum is one of the most popular museums in the Highlands. With important collections, we are responsible for the acquisition, preservation and display of a significant part of the West Highland’s cultural, historic and national heritage. This Privacy Notice sets out how and why we use the personal data you provide to us, which will differ depending on how you interact with us. Please read the sections that apply to you.

Who are we?

West Highland Museum
Cameron Square
Fort William
PH33 6AJ
The West Highland Museum Trust is a Scottish Company No. 581556 with Charity No. SCO47954.

Retention periods

We will only ever collect the information we need. When we ask you to provide your personal information we will let you know why we are asking and how we will use your data, by directing you towards this notice. We hold your information only as long as necessary for the purpose it was collected. If you decide not to support the West Highland Museum any more or request that we have no further contact with you, we will keep some basic information in order to avoid sending you unwanted communications in the future.

2. If you visit our museums, exhibitions or events

What we collectWhyLegal Bases
We may collect your name,
postal address, email address
and phone number
If you sign up to Gift Aid, we
are required to obtain your
name and postal address

To send you your tickets

We may need to contact you
if there is a change to an
activity you have booked for

We would like to keep you up
to date with news about our
work, events, products,
special offers and ways of
supporting the West Highland
Museum
It is a legal requirement for
this process.

This is required for the
contract (sale of the product
or service

This is required for the
contract (sale of the product
or service)

We will only send you these
communications via email if
we have your consent to do
so
Bank detailsTo buy a ticket for an
exhibition or event we require
these details to process the
sale.

Any information you provide
to us over the phone will be
securely destroyed.
This is required for the
contract (sale of the product
or service)
CCTV footageFor your safety and security
CCTV is in operation in public
areas of the West Highland
Museum premises. This
footage is stored temporarily,
and CCTV signage is
prominently displayed.
Our and your legitimate
interests – keeping you, our
buildings, people and
collections safe.

3. If you become a member, sponsor or are given a gift membership

What we collectWhyLegal Bases
We may collect your name,
postal address, email address
and phone number
To contact you regarding your
Membership, provide you with
your Membership benefits
including the annual
newsletter.

If you sign up to Gift Aid, we
are required to obtain your
name and postal address

We would like to keep you up
to date with news about our
work, events, products,
special offers and ways of
supporting the West Highland
Museum
This forms part of the Terms
and Conditions of your
Membership contract with us.

It is a legal requirement for
this process.

We will only send you these
communications via email if
we have your consent to do
so.
Bank detailsTo allow us to set up your
direct debit, or process your
payment.
This is required for the
contract (sale of the product
or service)
If you buy a gift membership
What we collectWhyLegal Bases
We may collect your name,
postal address, email address
and phone number
To contact you regarding your
Membership, provide you with
your Membership benefits
including the annual
newsletter.

If you sign up to Gift Aid, we
are required to obtain your
name and postal address

We would like to keep you up
to date with news about our
work, events, products,
special offers and ways of
supporting the West Highland
Museum
This forms part of the Terms
and Conditions of your
Membership contract with us.

It is a legal requirement for
this process.

We will only send you these
communications via email if
we have your consent to do
so.
Bank detailsTo allow us to set up your
direct debit, or process your
payment.
This is required for the
contract (sale of the product
or service)

4. If you are a museum shop customer or purchase from our online shop

What we collectWhyLegal Bases
We may collect your name,
postal address, email address
and phone number
To provide you with the
products you purchase

We require these details to
process the sale.

This forms part of the Terms
and Conditions of your
Membership contract with us.

It is a legal requirement for
this process.

We will only send you these
communications via email if
we have your consent to do
so.
Bank detailsWe do not receive these
details if you pay by card in
our gift shop or our online
shop. Any information you
provide to us over the phone
will be securely destroyed.

We would like to keep you up
to date with news about our
work, events, products,
special offers and ways of
supporting the West Highland
Museum
This is required for the
contract (sale of the product
or service)

We will only send you these
communications via email if
we have your consent to do
so

5. If you join our mailing list or receive our e-newsletter / newsletter

What we collectWhyLegal Bases
We may collect your name,
postal address, email address
and phone number


We would like to keep you up
to date with news about our
work, events, products,
special offers and ways of
supporting the West Highland
Museum

We will only send you these
communications via email if
we have your consent to do
so.

If you consent to receive information by email, your email address and communication preferences are held on our customer relations system, which is the email marketing tool we use to record customer information to send out our e-newsletters, and they are used only for the purpose of sending you these communications. You can choose to opt out of these marketing communications at any time by contacting us at info@westhighlandmuseum.org.uk

6. If you make a financial donation to the West Highland Museum

What we collectWhyLegal Bases
We may collect your name,
postal address, email address
and phone number


If you sign up to Gift Aid, we
are required to obtain your
name and postal address

We would like to keep you up
to date with news about our
work, events, products,
special offers and ways of
supporting the West Highland
Museum

It is a legal requirement for
this process.

We will only send you these
communications via email if
we have your consent to do
so.
Bank detailsTo allow us to process your
payment
This is required for the
contract (sale of the product
or service)

7. If you enter a competition

We will destroy your personal data after the competition has closed unless you have expressly chosen to opt-in to our email list. See Section 5.

What we collectWhyLegal Bases
We may collect your name,
postal address, email address
and phone number


To contact you if you win

We would like to keep you up
to date with news about our
work, events, products,
special offers and ways of
supporting the West Highland
Museum

On the basis of legitimate
interests – to contact you if
you win.

We will only send you these
communications via email if
we have your consent to do
so.

8. If you visit our website

In order to make websites easier to use and improve services, websites sometimes place small amounts of information on your computer. These are known as cookies and they are used by most major websites. We don’t retain any data through the use of cookies. The only cookie used by West Highland Museum is a temporary “session” cookie. It doesn’t store any information about you and it is deleted from your browser when you close it.

However, there are two other sources of cookies that may be stored by your browser when you use our website:

PayPal: If you use our online shop, payments are taken via the PayPal website. PayPal store a number of cookies that are used in context with the PayPal payment function on the website. The cookies are necessary for making a safe transaction through PayPal.

Google Analytics: We use Google Analytics to carry out statistical analysis of page use, page interactions and paths through the website to evaluate and develop our website. This is known as ‘digital analytics’. We may also record certain information that customers provide during a website purchase or other process. This information allows us to understand individual behaviours and needs more accurately. For more information on how Google uses the data collected via this service, see here: http://www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/

To opt out of being tracked via Google Analytics, you can also use Google’s opt-out browser add-on: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout

9. Managing our collections

We hold personal data in order to manage the collections of West Highland Museum.

What we collectWhyLegal Bases
We may collect your name,
postal address, email address
and phone number


To record the details of
disposals from and gifts,
purchases and loans to our
collections

To record and manage details
of makers/creators of items in
our collections

To enable us to lend items to
other institutions or
researchers

To ensure that we comply
with copyright legislation
when providing copies of
items in our collections

To undertake object
conservation and/or scientific
analysis (for outside
agencies)

It is necessary for us to carry
out our public task or exercise
our official authority as an
independent museum and it is
a legal requirement for this
process.

It is necessary for us to carry
out our public task or exercise
our official authority as an
independent museum

It is necessary for us to carry
out our Public Task or
exercise our official authority
as an independent museum
and it is a legal requirement
for this process.

This is a legal requirement for
this process

This is a legal requirement for
this process and forms part of
the Terms and Conditions of
contract with us.

10. Sharing information

We do not disclose personal data to any third parties or external organisations. Your data will never be sold or passed to any third party for any other purpose.

11. Legitimate interests

We have a number of legal bases that mean we can use (or ‘process’) your personal
information. One basis is ‘Legitimate Interests’, which means we can process your
personal information if:

  • We have a genuine and legitimate reason
    and
  • We are not harming any of your rights and interests.
    The following are some examples of when and why we would use this approach in
    our work:
  • Direct Marketing: We will send postal marketing and fundraising requests
    which further the aims and objectives of West Highland Museum
  • Wealth screening and research, to help us understand our Members, donors
    and potential donors, including gathering information from publicly available
    resources to give an insight into your philanthropic interests and ability to
    support West Highland Museum.
    When we process your personal information for our legitimate interests, we will
    consider and balance any potential impact on you and your rights under data
    protection and any other relevant law. Our legitimate business interests do not
    automatically override your interests.

12. How we update, screen and analyse your information

We continuously review records of supporters to ensure your data is as accurate as
possible. For example, we may consult alternative sources in order undertake these
checks for wealth screening, data cleaning or analysis, such as:

  • Royal Mail National Change of Address database (NCOA)
  • BT Operator Services Information System (OSIS)
  • Reviewing employment information that you have made publicly available via
    social media
  • Newspaper articles, publications and company websites
  • Companies House and other company information databases
  • Charity Commission and Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR)
    registers
  • Any other publicly available sources.

13. How we keep your information secure

We have implemented security procedures, rules and technical measures to protect
the personal data that we have under our control from:

  • Unauthorised access
  • Improper use or disclosure
  • Unauthorised modification.
    All our employees and volunteers, who have access to and are associated with the
    processing of personal data, are legally obliged to respect the confidentiality of the
    personal data that we hold.

14. Your Data Protection Rights

Under new data protection laws taking effect in May 2018, you have rights in relation to your personal data. These rights are:

The right of access: you have the right to know whether we are processing any of your personal data. If we are, you have the right to access the data and certain information, such as why we are processing the data

The right of rectification: you have the right to ensure that we correct inaccuracies in your personal data that we are processing

The right of erasure (the ‘right to be forgotten’): in certain situations you have the right to ensure that we erase your personal data The right to restriction of processing: in certain situations, you have the right to ensure that we restrict our processing of your personal data

The right of data portability: in certain situations, you have the right to receive personal data that you provided to us in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format

The right to object: in certain situations, you have the right to object to our processing of your personal data and we are normally obliged to stop processing your data when requested.

This right includes the right to object to our processing of your personal data for the purposes of direct marketing

The right to complain: you have the right to make a complaint to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) about our processing of your data, the exercise of your rights, and other data protection matters

The right to withdraw consent: you have the right at any time to withdraw your consent for us to process your personal data.

These rights are not absolute and may not apply in all situations or in relation to all processing activities.

Requests to exercise any of these rights should be sent to:

Vanessa Martin, Curator Manager
West Highland Museum
Cameron Square
Fort William
PH33 6AJ

Email: info@westhighlandmuseum.org.uk

At any time, you may request that we delete or correct your personal information by
simply emailing or writing to us.

15. Changes to this Privacy Notice

We review our privacy notice, and may make changes time to time. The first version of our Privacy Notice and was introduced on 20 August 2018. This is the second version of the policy.

16. How to contact us

If you have any comments on our Privacy Notice, or information we hold about you please contact us.

To contact the Data Protection Officer:
Vanessa Martin, Curator Manager
West Highland Museum
Cameron Square
Fort William
PH33 6AJ
info@westhighlandmuseum.org.uk

You can use our complaints procedure to make a complaint about data protection. You have the right to make a complaint directly to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which is the data protection supervisory authority in the UK.

Approved by Board: 22/02/2023
Review Due: 23/02/2025