Cookie Policy
A cookie is a file that is stored on your computer when you visit a website. Most websites use them and they are generally harmless. When you revisit the website later or visit a different webpage a copy of the cookie file is sent to the website.
They can be used to store information and have many uses, with the most common including tracking, remembering your details or settings, and to keep you logged in to an account.
You can find out more information about cookies from the following websites:
When are cookies created?
Writing data to a cookie is usually done when a new webpage is loaded - for example after a 'submit' button is pressed the data handling page would be responsible for storing the values in a cookie. If the user has elected to disable cookies then the right operation will fail, and subsequent sites which rely on the cookie will either have to take a default action, or prompt the user to re-enter the information that would have been stored in the cookie.
Why are cookies used?
Cookies are a convenient way to carry information from one session on a website to another, or between sessions on related websites, without having to burden a server machine with massive amounts of data storage. Storing the data on the server without using cookies would also be problematic because it would be difficult to retrieve a particular user's information without requiring a login on each visit to the website.
If there is a large amount of information to store, then a cookie can simply be used as a means to identify a given user so that further related information can be looked up on a server-side database. For example the first time a user visits a site they may choose a username which is stored in the cookie, and then provide data such as password, name, address, preferred font size, page layout, etc. This information would all be stored on the database using the username as a key. Subsequently when the site is revisited the server will read the cookie to find the username, and then retrieve all the user's information from the database without it having to be re-entered.
What cookies do you have and why?
Here is the table of cookies we use on our site.
| Name | Placed By | Function | Cookie Classification | Expiry |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| kirby_session | Kirby CMS | Used for storing information about a user's session. | Strictly Necessary | Session |
| _utma | Google Analytics | Used to distinguish users and sessions. | Statistics | 2 years |
| _utmb | Google Analytics | Used to distinguish users and sessions. | Statistics | 30 minutes |
| _utmt | Google Analytics | Used to distinguish users and sessions. | Statistics | 10 minutes |
| _utmz | Google Analytics | Used to distinguish users and sessions. | Statistics | 6 months |
| _gid | Google Analytics | Used to distinguish users. | Statistics | 24 hours |
| _gat_gtag _UA_91198735_1 | Google Analytics | The GA tracking ID allows the creation of up to 50 different views in Analytics to show data in relation to the website./td> | Statistics | 1 minute |
| _ga | Google Analytics | Used to distinguish unique users by assigning a randomly generated number as a client identifier. It is included in each page request in a site and used to calculate visitor, session and campaign data for the site’s analytics reports. | Statistics | 2 years | _gcl_au | Google Adsense | Used to store and track advertising conversions. | Marketing | 6 months |
Click here for an overview of privacy at Google, as relates to our use of cookies provided by Google.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
These cookies are essential to enable you to move around the website and use its features, such as accessing secure areas of the website. Without these cookies, our website won’t work properly.
Statistics Cookies
These cookies collect information about how you use our website (for instance, which pages you visit) by collecting and reporting information anonymously. We use these cookies to understand how visitors interact with our website and to improve how it works.
Marketing Cookies
Marketing cookies are used to track visitors across websites. The intention is to display ads that are relevant and engaging for the individual user and thereby more valuable for publishers and third party advertisers.
There is an unlisted cookie here?
As our website uses a content management system and added third-party plug-ins it can sometimes be difficult for us to notice every single cookie being used, especially after software updates.
If you do notice a cookie that slips past us or have a question about cookies then please contact us.
There are also some essential cookies which are required for the website to work; these can only be blocked by changing your browser settings.
How can I disable or block cookies?
We recommend visiting your browser help section to find out how:
Firefox
Internet Explorer
Chrome
Safari
Third party cookies opt-out
Some cookies are used and provided by third-party sources. While we might not use all of them, here are the main links you can use to opt out should you wish: