GREATER Manchester’s biggest youth coding event is coming to Leigh this week.

GM Hackfest will be held at Leigh Hackspace at The Cotton Mill on Mather from 9am to 5pm tomorrow, Thursday, and Friday.

The free event is open to anyone aged 13 to 19 and will offer a variety of fun coding challenges, aimed at testing youngsters' coding skills and creativity.

They will compete to build the best hack software, with teams of up to four working together to come up with a solution to a challenge and win a series of prizes, including a Raspberry Pi 3, Amazon vouchers and cinema tickets.

Expert mentors from coding companies across Greater Manchester will be on hand to share their knowledge and help participants of all abilities complete their challenge.

Other GM Hackfest events will be taking place in Oldham, Manchester, Salford and Tameside.

Participants will then be invited to go to the ‘Big Hack Meet-up’ at the Sharp Project on Saturday to share their experiences and learn more about coding.

Marcus Baw, director and founder of Leigh Hackspace, said: “This event is shaping up to be a huge success, and we have some of Greater Manchester’s leading experts on board, ready to share their knowledge and insights with the coders of tomorrow.

"It is going to be really interesting, packed with lots of fun and engaging tasks.

“We are extremely excited to see how the young coding generation will respond to the challenges and ultimately discover what creative ideas they will produce.”

Nick Black, CEO of on of the event sponsors Apadmi, said: “GM Hackfest is a fantastic event to get involved with as it helps to engage with young people and get them excited about technology, as well as develop their coding skills in a fun and tech-filled environment.

“Currently digital businesses in the north west are struggling to recruit the right talent to fill the ever increasing number of tech roles available.

"A recent study found that coding roles have been the hardest to fill for three years in a row.

"However by hosting events like this we can inspire people from a younger age to get involved in the tech industry and nurture the next generation of talent to bridge the skills gap.”

To take part in the event you must get your free ticket online at eventbrite.co.uk/e/wigan-leigh-youth-hack-tickets-26388808637.