What are cookies?
Cookies are very small text files that are automatically downloaded to your computer, mobile, or tablet device when you visit a website.
Most websites use cookies in some form or another. While you’re busy browsing, they work quietly behind the scenes – saving important information that makes viewing web pages easier for you.
For example, one cookie remembers the order in which you’ve viewed web pages. That way, when you hit the ‘Back’ button in your browser, it’ll flick through them in the right order.
Cookies also send useful information to us – such as which pages you’ve visited, which you’ve spent the most time on and what time of day you visited. All of this helps us to improve our website for the next time you visit.
But with all this data going back and forth, you’re probably wondering if your data is secure - which leads us onto our next question.
Types of Cookies
Third party Cookies. When you share a page by using a social media sharing button on this website, the third party social media website will use a cookie to enable this function.
Analytic Cookies. To ensure the best user experience we use Google Analytics which uses a cookies to track how you browse the website. This allows us to monitor statistics such as page popularity, general site navigation flow, and the geographical location of visitors. Your personal data will not be captured by analytic Cookies.
Do I need to keep them enabled?
Strictly speaking, no, however, without cookies, some fundamental site functions could not function correctly. Cookies are used on this website to ensure that we provide you with the best user experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies on this site.
How can I remove cookies?
We hope we’ve put your mind at ease about using cookies. Most computers are set to download cookies automatically, so if you’re happy with everything you’ve read, simply carry on as you were.
However, if you’re at all concerned about having cookies on your computer, deleting them is simple. Show me how to remove cookies.
Likewise, you can also change your computer settings so that it won’t download any more cookies. Show me how to change my cookie settings.
Further reading
If you’d like to know more about cookies and how they’re used, the following resources are a good place to start:
Social Media Links