Privacy & Contact

Who we are

The Ducks Club is a private members’ club. It is not a company and does not trade. This website is for members only, apart from this page and the front door.

The club is responsible for the personal information on this website. The Secretary looks after it on the club’s behalf.

Any question about this page, or about your information, should go to the Secretary.

What we keep, and why

We keep only what is needed to run the club and its website:

• The Members’ Book: each member’s name and, if they choose to give them, their position in the club, birthplace and date of birth.
• The club’s records: events, notices, minutes and papers, the slate, the Fines Book, and accounts of meets and trips. These may mention members by name.
• Photographs: portraits in the Gallery and photographs of meets and trips, posted by the Secretary.
• What members add themselves: messages in the Morning Room, pins on the atlas (a name, a place, an optional note and a point on the map), and recommendations of books, records, bottles, bars and restaurants. Each carries the name the member types.

We use this information because the club has a legitimate interest in running a members’ club and helping its members keep in touch. Photographs and dates of birth are only added with the member’s agreement, and a member may ask for them to be taken down at any time.

Who can see it

Everything above can only be seen by people signed in with the members’ password. Only the Secretary’s Office can change the club’s records. We do not sell or share members’ information, and we do not use it for marketing.

The website is hosted by Cloudflare, which stores it on our behalf under its data-protection terms. Cloudflare runs servers around the world, so copies may be kept outside the United Kingdom.

The website asks search engines not to list it. It has no advertising, no visitor tracking or analytics, and its typefaces are served from the website itself, so no other company is told when you visit.

How long we keep it

A member’s details stay in the Members’ Book while they are a member, and the Secretary removes them when they leave. The Morning Room keeps its latest 300 messages; older ones fall away by themselves. Anything a member has added can be taken down by them from the same device, or by the Secretary at any time.

The club’s minutes and records of past events are kept as part of its history.

Cookies and your device

When you sign in, the website sets one cookie, ducks_session, so it knows you are a member. It holds no name or personal details. It lasts 12 hours, or 30 days if you tick “Keep me signed in”, and is removed when you take leave.

The website also remembers a few things in your own browser: whether you have switched the wireless on, the name you last used in the Morning Room, and a private key that lets you take back something you added. These stay on your device and are not sent to anyone. Clearing your browser’s data removes them.

As these are needed for the website to work as you ask, we do not show a cookie banner.

Links to other websites

The Morning Papers link to articles on newspapers’ own websites, and members’ recommendations and room links may point elsewhere. Those websites have their own privacy policies.

Your rights

Under UK data-protection law you may ask to see the information we hold about you, ask us to correct or delete it, or object to how we use it. Ask the Secretary and we will reply within one month.

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, you may complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or on 0303 123 1113. We would be grateful for the chance to put things right first.