Cookies
As part of the 2018 GDPR General Data Protection Regulation we are required to tell you how we use your data and part of that interaction is by use of Cookies – Small text files that are stored on your device.
Listed below are the cookies that our website will cause to be created and stored on you machine.
You can turn cookies off and it will make no difference to your experience of our website.
Quite a lot of information about your computer or other device is sent back and forth to enable the Internet to work. Much of the data is irrelevant to us and arrives un-requested. When we create and update pages we take note of the type of devices that are used, eg, their screen size, to create the best experience.
Privacy Policy
The Methodist Church have a detailed Privacy Policy which can be read at the central website. click here
Google Analytics
Google Analytics sets first party cookies via a piece of JavaScript code which must be added to every page that site owners want to track. It sets four cookies automatically, and a fifth via opt-in (this relates to sharing information about your traffic with Google).
Globally and in the European Union member states Google sets the following cookies:
__utma Cookie
A persistent cookie – remains on a computer, unless it expires or the cookie cache is cleared. It tracks visitors. Metrics associated with the Google __utma cookie include: first visit (unique visit), last visit (returning visit). This also includes Days and Visits to purchase calculations which afford ecommerce websites with data intelligence around purchasing sales funnels.
__utmb Cookie & __utmc Cookie
These cookies work in tandem to calculate visit length. Google __utmb cookie demarks the exact arrival time, then Google __utmc registers the precise exit time of the user.
Because __utmb counts entrance visits, it is a session cookie, and expires at the end of the session, e.g. when the user leaves the page. A timestamp of 30 minutes must pass before Google cookie __utmc expires. Given__utmc cannot tell if a browser or website session ends. Therefore, if no new page view is recorded in 30 minutes the cookie is expired.
This is a standard ‘grace period’ in web analytics. Ominture and WebTrends among many others follow the same procedure.
__utmz Cookie
Cookie __utmz monitors the HTTP Referrer and notes where a visitor arrived from, with the referrer siloed into type (Search engine (organic or cpc), direct, social and unaccounted). From the HTTP Referrer the __utmz Cookie also registers, what keyword generated the visit plus geolocation data.
This cookie lasts six months. In tracking terms this Cookie is perhaps the most important as it will tell you about your traffic and help with conversion information such as what source / medium / keyword to attribute for a Goal Conversion.
__utmv Cookie
Google __utmv Cookie lasts “forever”. It is a persistant cookie. It is used for segmentation, data experimentation and the __utmv works hand in hand with the __utmz cookie to improve cookie targeting capabilities.