A community youth charity in Oldham has launched a sports programme that is tailored to girls to inspire the next generation and to improve girls' participation.

Oldham Inspiring Youth has kickstarted its "get active for girls" campaign to try to boost women’s participation in sports by giving young girls the chance to try new sports that they may not have had access to.

Shafiqur Rahman, chair of Oldham Inspiring Youth, said the initiative was sparked after members of the community raised a lack of girls-only provision in sports after schools - and since millions of girls were inspired by the success of the Women's EURO.

Mr Rahman said: "We want to ensure women’s sport has a bright future.

“We feel girls are being left alone and the option for girls to participate in out-of-school activities is slim.

“The project aims to create an everlasting impression of the power of sports and understand the benefits of participation in sport while Get Active for Girls is open-plan to remove pressure.

“We believe the project will provide huge benefits, mentally and physically, to girls across Oldham.”

To facilitate the mission, the charity even hired female coaches to lead the girls' classes.

Oldham Inspiring Youth has a wide range of sports programmes, for girls and boys alike, which is having a positive impact on the children that get involved.

Mr Rahman added: “The fact that 90 per cent of children return week in, week out, shows the impact we are making as well as the hard work our volunteers are putting in to create a welcoming, safe and friendly environment for children."

The "get active for girls" programme will be completely free for 12 weeks and is aimed at girls between seven and 12.

The programme boasts a wide range of multi-sport activities in a pressure-free environment such as football, archery, dodgeball, boxing, netball, table tennis and badminton.

The sports days take place from 10am until 11.15am every Saturday at the Dome Indoor Football venue on Westwood Industrial Estate, Arkwright Street.

However, the charity also hosts "fun football", "boxercise to fitness", cycling groups and much more for all youngsters and abilities each week.