Cookie Policy

What are cookies

Cookies are small text files containing letters and numbers which are stored on your device by websites that you visit. They are widely used to assist with website functionality and provide a better user experience.

How do we use cookies

We use cookies for the purpose of understanding how our website is being used. This assists us with making our website secure and help us to provide content that is both relevant and easily found.

To do this we use the following cookies:

For all visitors

Universal Analytics (Google) – collects anonymous information about how visitors use our website.

For registered users only

WordPress cookies – for managing authentication and user settings
Wordfence security cookies – for website security

(see ‘Our cookie table‘ for more details)

What if I don’t want cookies

Most modern web browsers give you the ability to have some control of cookies through your browser settings.

(please note: if you use your browser settings to block all cookies you may not be able to access all parts of this website)

Below are links on how to manage cookies on popular browsers currently used:

Google have also released an extension for the most popular browsers to enable you to opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics. This can be found at:

http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout

A bit more about cookies

Google have made a video about cookies that gives a good high level overview. You can view it by clicking here

Cookies are generally categorised into 2 main types:

Session Cookies:

These are temporary cookies which are removed when the web browser is closed

Persistent Cookies:

These are cookies that will remain in a location on your device until they are either manually removed or the web browser deletes them based upon a duration set by the cookie

Cookies can either originate from the website you are currently visiting (in which case they would be refered to as ‘First Party Cookies’) or alternatively they can originate from a website that is external to the one you are currently visiting (in which case they would be refered to as ‘Third Party Cookies’).

By default most modern web browsers allow ‘First Party Cookies’ as they are often required for the operation of a website, for example enabling you to login to a secure area on the website, or use the shopping basket. ‘Third Party Cookies’ are often used by advertising to track browsing history and some modern web browsers block these cookies by default.

Our cookie table

For all visitors

Name	Description	Used by	Expiry
_ga	Visitor identification (anonymous data)	Universal Analytics (Google)	2 years
_gid	Visitors journey on website	Universal Analytics (Google)	1 day
_gat	Throttles request rate	Universal Analytics (Google)	1 minute

For registered users only (logged in users)

Name	Description	Used by	Expiry
wordpress_test_cookie	Checks if cookies are enabled	WordPress	session
wp-settings-time-1	Customise view of wordpress interface	WordPress	session
wp-settings-1	Customise view of wordpress interface	WordPress	session
wordpress_sec_xxx	Authentication details	WordPress	session
wordpress_logged_in_xxx	Stores login details	WordPress	session
wfwaf_authcookie_xxx	Used for authentication	Wordfence	12 hours