Cookie Policy
A Cookie is a text file that downloads and stores information about your visit to the device you are accessing the site from. The details of your previous visit are remembered for the next time you visit the website using that device.
Cookies help us improve the performance of the website as it remembers your preferences and we can make tweaks based on visitor behaviour and statistics. We sometimes place cookies on your device which help us serve relevant adverts to you when you visit other websites.
You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when websites set or access cookies. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of this website may become inaccessible or not function properly.
The categories of cookies we use on the website and the function they perform is listed below.
1. Necessary cookies
These cookies are essential for the website to operate correctly and cannot be disabled without ruining the usability of the website. The law does not require us to ask consent to use these cookies and they will always be placed when you use this website.
2. Analytical/performance cookies.
Analytics cookies are used to gather anonymous data on how visitors use the website.
They look at what pages are the most popular, how long visitors stay on them, if and when a user gets an error message and other similar useful data which we use to improve how the website works and make information easier to find. This data is anonymous and we cannot track you individually using analytics cookies.
3. Functionality cookies
These are used to recognise you when you return to the Website. This enables us to potentially personalise our content for you, greet you by name and remember your preferences (for example, your choice of language or region).
4. Targeting cookies
These cookies record your visit to the Website, the pages you have visited and the links uou have followed. We may use this information to make the Website and the advertising displayed on it more relevant to your interests. We may also share this information with third parties for this purpose.
More information about the individual cookies we use, and the purposes for which we use them, are as follows:
| Supplier | Cookie ID | Expires | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cookie Consent | catAccCookies | 30 days | Cookie Consent doesn’t store any user data server-side or make use of IP addresses. When a user lands on a site using this plugin and accepts the cookie notification message, the plugin places a cookie on the user’s own machine that records the user’s acceptance. It doesn’t store anything, including IP addresses, server-side. |
| WordPress | wordpress_test_cookie | A session cookie, deleted when you close your web browser. | WordPress – Tests whether or not the browser has cookies enabled. The main purpose of this cookie is: Strictly Necessary |
| WordPress | wordpress_logged_in | A session cookie, deleted when you close your web browser. | WordPress session cookies are created if and when you log into WordPress either as an administrator or contributor to the website. |
| WordPress | wordpress_sec_ | A session cookie, deleted when you close your web browser. | WordPress session cookies are created if and when you log into WordPress either as an administrator or contributor to the website. |
| WordPress | wp-settings- | 1 Year | WordPress – sets a few wp-settings-[UID] cookies. The number on the end is your individual user ID from the users database table. This is used to customize your view of admin interface, and possibly also the main site interface. |
| WordPress | wp-settings-time- | 1 Year | WordPress – sets a few wp-settings-{time}-[UID] cookies. The number on the end is your individual user ID from the users database table. This is used to customize your view of admin interface, and possibly also the main site interface. |
| WordPress | devicePixelRatio | 7days | This cookie records your device’s pixel ratio. If your screen resolution is a retina or Hi DPI screen, then the website may choose to serve you higher resolution graphics. |
| WordPress | comment_author comment_author_email comment_author_url | If you choose to submit a discussion/comment to our website, you will be asked to provide certain information about yourself including your name, email and website address. | |
| WordPress | _ga, _gat, _gid | 3yrs, session, 30days | Google Analytics – These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources, so we can measure and improve the performance |
Third Party Cookies
Pages on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, social media feeds, maps, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.
These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracing your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.
It’s important for you to know that we have no access to or control over cookies used by these companies or third-party websites. We suggest you check the third-party websites for more information about their cookies and how to manage them.
| Supplier | Cookie ID | Expires | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| .doubleclick.net | IDE, DSID | 1 year | Used by Google DoubleClick to register and report the website user’s actions after viewing or clicking one of the advertiser’s ads with the purpose of measuring the efficacy of an ad and to present targeted ads to the user. |
| .facebook.com | C_user, datr, fr, sb, wd, xs | 6months, 2.5yrs, 3months, 3.5yrs, 7days, 6months | These cookies are used when integrating Facebook and the sharing of content. |
| .google.com | OTZ, _ga | 30days, 2.5yrs | Aggregate analysis of website visitors |
| .google.com | APISID, HSID, NID, SAPISID, SID, SIDCC, SSID | Most of the cookies expire 10 years after your last visit to a page containing a Google Map. | Google set a number of cookies on any page that includes a Google Map. While we have no control over the cookies set by Google, they appear to include a mixture of pieces of information to measure the number and behaviour of Google Maps users. |
| .google.com | 1P_JAR, OTZ, _ga | 1month, 2.5yrs | Google ad personalisation |
| .googleusercontent.com | NID | 6months | Used by Google |
| .gstatic.com | CONSENT, NID | 2.5yrs, 6months | Google Cookie consent setting & Advertising cookie |
| .secure.gravatar.com | __utma | 2yrs | Gravatar is an image that appears from one site to another that appears next to your name when you do things like comment or post in a blog. |
| .twitter.com | _ncuid, _ga, _utma, _utmv, _ga, co, csrf_same_site_set, dnt, eu_cn, guest_id, kdt, mp, netpu, personalization_id, remember_checked_on, syndication_guest_id, tfw_exp, twitter_ads_id | 1.5yrs, 2yrs, 2yrs, 3yrs, 13yrs, 1yr, 13yrs, 2yrs, 7days, 2yrs, 2yrs, 1yr, 2yrs, 2yrs, 10yrs, 2yrs, 1month, 2yrs | These are third party Twitter cookies. These cookies enable users, if they wish, to login to their Twitter account share content from our websites with their friends. These cookies do not allow us access to your accounts or provide us with any confidential information relating to your accounts. These cookies also allow a news feed of tweets to appear on the website. Please refer to Twitter’s Privacy Policy for more information. |
| .youtube.com | APISID, HSID, LOGIN_INFO, PREF, SAPISID, SID, SSID, VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE, YSC, remote_sid, requests, nextId | 2yrs, 2yrs, 2yrs, 2yrs, 2yrs, 2yrs, 1yr, session, unknown, unknown, unknown | Google set a number of cookies on any page that includes a YouTube video to measure the number and behaviour of YouTube users. |
| cdn.syndication.twimg.com | lang | end of session | Helps us to determine the language settings of the user’s browser, to better serve relevant information in the right language. |
Google provide information about their cookie and privacy policies including their YouTube service and G+ here http://www.google.co.uk/intl/en/policies/privacy/
Facebook provide information about their cookie and privacy policies here https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/update
Twitter provide information about their cookie and privacy policies here https://twitter.com/en/privacy#update
Blocking / Managing Cookies
You can block cookies by activating the setting on your browser that allows you to refuse the setting of all or some cookies. However, if you use your browser settings to block all cookies (including essential cookies) you may not be able to access all or parts of the Website.
a few helpful articles on this:
- Cookie settings in Internet Explorer
- Cookie settings in Firefox
- Cookie settings in Chrome
- Cookie settings in Safari web and iOS
If the browser you like to use is not listed above, normally there is a ‘Help’ option on your browser to find out about how it handles cookies, or visit the site you downloaded it from for more information.
Google analytics provide a browser plugin to prevent their analytics cookies being placed https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout or you can use your browser settings to disallow analytics cookies.
You can find more information about cookies at www.allaboutcookies.org