Some digital skills trainers deliver PowerPoint slides in a classroom. We build oil paintings that move, jukeboxes that play chips-and-gravy nostalgia, and free WiFi networks that serve thousands of people daily.
NW Digital Solutions brings over fifteen years of community-led, hands-on technology education to individuals, organisations and communities across the North West.
Heritage Hackers
Reaching the people that traditional education never wouldOriginally commissioned by Link4Life, the NHS and Rochdale Council, Heritage Hackers was born from a simple but powerful idea — that maker workshops could reach people that traditional education never would.
Working with isolated men in Rochdale, many long-term unemployed or living with mental health challenges, our energetic and inclusive sessions used electronics, code and creativity as a way in. Not to teach technology for technology's sake, but to build confidence, connection and capability.
The projects that have come out of Heritage Hackers tell the story better than any curriculum document could:
An oil painting whose canvas physically moves and adjusts to where the viewer stands, illuminating and playing Buddhist chants
A Gracie Fields-inspired fish and chip jukebox
A hacked Billy the Bass that recites Lancashire dialect poetry
We're still running Heritage Hackers workshops today — and we wouldn't have it any other way.
The Rochdale Mesh
The biggest project to emerge from Heritage Hackers is The Rochdale Mesh — a community WiFi network providing free internet access to thousands of Rochdale residents every single day.
Built on open source technology and community spirit, The Rochdale Mesh is proof that maker culture isn't just about novelty projects. It's about using technology to genuinely improve people's lives.
🧑🏫 Adult & Inclusive Education
Specialist in adult digital inclusion — because the most transformative learning often happens later in life, and in the most unexpected places.
🥧 Raspberry Pi Certified Educator
Certified by the Raspberry Pi Foundation
🦊 Mozilla Club Captain
Running Mozilla Clubs promoting web literacy
🥷 CoderDojo Mentor
McrCoderDojo Mentor and founder of Rochdale CoderDojo
⚡ Young Rewired State Mentor
Supporting young developers create in competitive challenge
🎪 Rochdale Digital Festival
Running maker spaces and Tech Creatives across multiple festivals
Drop-ins engage!
Drop-in workshops — open, informal, come-as-you-are sessions where participants can explore technology at their own pace. Perfect for community events and introductory sessions and Digital Festivals.
Structured Courses
Our progressive programmes with clear learning outcomes, designed for organisations/learning communities that need evidenced impact. Ideal for councils, CICs, housing associations, NHS trusts and community organisations with digital inclusion goals.
From Community Workshops to the Atom Valley Digital Corridor
“Sometimes it's the people no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine.” -The Imitation Game (Alan Turing).The skills we teach in our workshops — electronics, coding, physical computing, maker culture — are not just hobbies. They are the foundations of some of the most sought-after technical skills in the UK economy.
The Atom Valley Digital Corridor, spanning Rochdale, Oldham and Bury, represents one of the most significant advanced manufacturing and technology investment programmes in the North of England. The industries moving into Atom Valley — advanced manufacturing, robotics, green energy, digital infrastructure — need people who understand how electronics and code work together in the physical world.
That's exactly what we teach.
Our workshops are deliberately designed as a journey — from a first encounter with a Raspberry Pi or an Arduino at a community drop-in, through to structured courses that build genuine technical depth. For the right person, that journey doesn't stop at the workshop. It leads to apprenticeships, technical roles and careers in precisely the industries that Atom Valley is trying to grow.
We are proud to be seeding that talent pipeline in Rochdale and across Greater Manchester — one workshop at a time.
The Opportunity is Real
Atom Valley represents a once-in-a-generation moment for Greater Manchester
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New jobs targeted by Atom Valley
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£ Billion Investment in the Atom Valley corridor
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Square feet of employment space