Interview with Sam Eardley

Scope and Content

Interview covers 2000's-2018.

[00:00:00] Sam outlines how he first came to be involved with Unicorn Grocery (Chorlton, Manchester). [00:01:43] Discusses decision to move from a casual worker to a full-time member of Unicorn. [00:04:14] Talks about decision making at Unicorn. [00:06:28] Discusses introducing new members to ways of working at Unicorn. Talks about the idea of sociocracy. [00:10:23] Talks about the different structure of Unicorn over time. [00:13:09] Talks about difference between working in a workers co-operative vs other types of business. [00:15:26] Sam outlines what he likes most about working at Unicorn, and what he'd like to see improved.

Administrative / Biographical History

Sam Eardley is a member of Unicorn Grocery, Manchester.

(Interviewer) Lucy-Kay Brownson worked as a volunteer for the Working Together project (2017-2018), and was also a casual worker at Unicorn Grocery.

Acquisition Information

In October 2017 the National Co-operative Archive sent out a request for interview participants from the wider workers' co-operative community to take part in Working Together, a Heritage Lottery Funded project seeking to record and preserve the heritage of the workers' co-operative movement. This interview was recorded in response to this request. The interview was conducted at Unicorn Grocery, Chorlton, Manchester.

Physical Characteristics and/or Technical Requirements

Length of interview: 00:22:17

Recording Equipment: iPhone 7 iOS 11.3.1

Recording note: original audio file M4a

Conditions Governing Use

This interview is licensed under a Creative Commons license (Attribution, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives)

Related Material

Transcript and summary of interview.

Material related to Unicorn Grocery available for consultation at the National Co-operative Archive. Reference: GB1499 UNI

Location of Originals

Original recording and transcript held at the National Co-operative Archive

Geographical Names