TERMS OF USE

 

ABOUT THE OUTDOOR SWIMMING SOCIETY

 
The Outdoor Swimming Society (OSS) is a not for profit that does not charge membership fees. It generates revenue through member donations, brand sponsorships and partnerships, and via events and merchandise.

This section of the site contains terms of use for:

  • General Terms & Conditions (website & newsletters)

See also:

It is your responsibility to read these terms and conditions before use or registration on this site.

SWIM RESPONSIBILITY STATEMENT

 
The Outdoor Swimming Society is not able to assume legal responsibility to its members or others. While we are always keen to share our passion for outdoor swimming, all swimmers must be solely responsible for making their own assessment as to the risks involved in any particular swim.

The Outdoor Swimming Society itself has no control or influence over those who arrange social swims on Facebook, using the OSS group or other groups, or the locations written about or featured in newsletters, social media or the website. The decision to participate in any swim must therefore be taken individually, and swimmers must not rely (in whole or in part) on views or information provided by the Outdoor Swimming Society and/or its members. If you are in any doubt about the safety of a swim or your ability to complete it, you should not take part.

Swimming outdoors heightens the risk of serious injury or harm. The risks of outdoor swimming include (but are not limited to) hypothermia, drowning, sickness from polluted water, injury from wildlife, other swimmers or debris in the water. The ‘safety’ of locations varies with the weather, the abilities and knowledge of the swimmer and over time – rainfall can dramatically change the safety profile of a swim spot. More information on understanding water is available in the ‘Survive’ section of this website.

To the maximum extent permitted by law:

  • The Outdoor Swimming Society;
  • each individual acting on behalf of the Outdoor Swimming Society; and
  • any person involved in an Outdoor Swimming Society social swim,

exclude any liability for personal injury, death or other harm or loss to its members or any other person or organisation as a result of their negligence or other breach of legal duty.

GENERAL TERMS & CONDITIONS

 
These Terms and Conditions govern your use of The Outdoor Swimming Society Limited website (the “Site”) and your relationship with The Outdoor Swimming Society Limited (the “Company”, “we” or “us”). Please read them carefully as they affect your rights and liabilities under the law. If you do not agree to these Terms and Conditions, please do not register for or use the Site.

1. Use of the Site

 
1.1 The Site is provided to you for your personal use subject to these Terms and Conditions. By using the Site you agree to be bound by these Terms and Conditions.

1.2 By using the Site you expressly confirm that you have read and understood the terms of the OSS Swim Responsibility Statement and agree to its terms. A copy of the OSS Swim Responsibility Statement is located above and repeated here. Please note that the terms of the OSS Swim Responsibility Statement include exclusions / limitations of liability and therefore need to be read carefully.

1.3 By using (or registering with) the Site you expressly confirm that you take full responsibility for your own decisions to participate in outdoor swimming at any location, and that we do not assume any legal responsibility to you in relation to the information provided to you by us or by anyone acting (or purporting to act) on our behalf. You must conduct your own risk assessment prior to participating in outdoor swimming.

2. Amendments

 
2.1 We may update these Terms and Conditions from time to time for legal or regulatory reasons or to allow the proper operation of the Site. Any changes will be notified to you via the e-mail address provided by you on registration or via a suitable announcement on the Site. The changes will apply to the use of the Company Site after we have given notice. If you do not wish to accept the new Terms and Conditions you should not continue to use the Site. If you continue to use the Site after the date on which the change comes into effect, your use of the Site indicates your agreement to be bound by the new Terms and Conditions.

3 Registration, password and security

 
3.1 There are two areas in which you may register for this site: for the elsewhere newsletter via Mailchimp and in the shop to buy merchandise. When you register to use the Site you will be asked to create a password. In order to prevent fraud, you must keep this password confidential and must not disclose it or share it with anyone. If you know or suspect that someone else knows your password you should change it immediately, by logging on to your Account. If you forget your password or username, prompts are available.

3.2 If we have reason to believe that there is likely to be a breach of security or misuse of the Site, we may require you to change your password or we may suspend your account.

3.3 To register on the Site you must be over eighteen years of age. If you are under the age of eighteen you must have the consent of your legal guardian.

3.4 You must ensure that the details provided by you on registration or at any time are correct and complete. You can update your details by clicking on the “update your preferences” link at the foot of each issue of elsewhere and at your Account.

3.5 You must update your personal details when they change in order that we can communicate with you effectively.

4 Intellectual property

 
4.1 The content of the Site is protected by copyright, trade marks, database right and other intellectual property rights. You may retrieve and display the content of the Site on a computer screen, store such content in electronic form on disk (but not any server or other storage device connected to a network) or print one copy of such content for your own personal, non-commercial use, provided you keep intact all and any copyright and proprietary notices. You may not otherwise reproduce, modify, copy or distribute or use for commercial purposes any of the materials or content on the Site without written permission from us or the relevant copyright owner.

5 Your use of the Site

 
5.1 You may not use the Site for any of the following purposes:

  • disseminating any unlawful, harassing, libelous, abusive, threatening, harmful, vulgar, obscene, or otherwise objectionable material or otherwise breaching any laws;
  • transmitting material that encourages conduct that constitutes a criminal offence, results in civil liability or otherwise breaches any applicable laws, regulations or code of practice;
  • interfering with any other person’s use or enjoyment of the Site; or
  • making, transmitting or storing electronic copies of materials protected by copyright without the permission of the owner.

5.2 You will be responsible for our losses and costs resulting from your breach of this clause 5.

6 Availability of the Site

 
6.1 Although we aim to allow you the best possible access to the site, we make no promise that the services at the Site will meet your requirements. We cannot guarantee that the service will be fault-free. If a fault occurs in the service you should report it via one of our social media channels and we will attempt to correct the fault as soon as we reasonably can.

6.2 Your access to the Site may be occasionally restricted to allow for repairs, maintenance or the introduction of new facilities or services. We will attempt to restore the service as soon as we reasonably can.

7 The Company’s right to suspend or cancel your registration

 
7.1 We may suspend or cancel your registration immediately at our reasonable discretion or if you breach any of your obligations under these Terms and Conditions.

7.2 You can cancel your website shop account at any time by contacting us at hello@outdoorswimmingsociety.com

7.3 You can cancel your elsewhere newsletter registration at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link included at the foot of every newsletter.

7.4 The suspension or cancellation of your registration and your right to use the Site shall not affect either party’s statutory rights or liabilities.

8 The Company’s liability

 
8.1 The Site provides content from other Internet sites or resources and we try to ensure that material included on the Site is correct, reputable and of high quality, it does not make any warranties or guarantees in relation to that content. If we are informed of any inaccuracies in the material on the Site we will attempt to correct the inaccuracies as soon as we reasonably can.

8.2 If we are in breach of these Terms & Conditions, we will only be responsible for any losses that you suffer as a result to the extent that they are a foreseeable consequence to both of us at the time you make the relevant order. Our liability shall not in any event include business losses such as lost data, lost profits or business interruption.

8.3 This clause 8 shall not limit or affect our liability resulting from any products sold through the Site being found to be unsafe or unsatisfactory or if something we do in relation to those products negligently causes death or personal injury.

9 Third Party Websites

 
9.1 As a convenience to users, the Site includes links to other web sites or material which are beyond its control. We are not responsible for content on any site outside the Site.

10 Advertising and Sponsorship

 
Part of the Site may contain advertising and sponsorship. Advertisers and sponsors are responsible for ensuring that material submitted for inclusion on the Site complies with relevant laws and codes. We will not be responsible to you for any error or inaccuracy in advertising and sponsorship material.

11 Applicable Law

 
These terms and conditions will be subject to the laws of England and Wales. We will try to solve any disagreements quickly and efficiently. If you are not happy with the way we deal with any disagreement and you want to take court proceedings, you must do so within England.

12 International Use

 
We make no promise that materials on the Site are appropriate or available for use in locations outside the United Kingdom, and accessing the Site from territories where its contents are illegal or unlawful is prohibited. If you choose to access this site from locations outside the United Kingdom, you do so on your own initiative and are responsible for compliance with local laws.

13 Miscellaneous

 
You may not transfer any of your rights under these Terms and Conditions to any other person. We may transfer our rights under these Terms and Conditions to another business where we reasonably believe your rights will not be affected.

If you breach these Terms and Conditions and the Company chooses to ignore this, we will still be entitled to use our rights and remedies at a later date or in any other situation where you breach the Terms and Conditions.

We shall not be responsible for any breach of these Terms and Conditions caused by circumstances beyond our reasonable control.

The Site is owned and operated by the not for profit, The Outdoor Swimming Society Limited, Company Registration No. 5847138.

Last update: 16 March 2022

Previous versions: 24 May 2018