When Narjes Sedighi moved to Carlisle from Iran, via Kuala Lumpur, she knew no one in the city.

The 29-year-old came here to study sport rehabilitation at the University of Cumbria in September last year, after studying physiotherapy in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia for a few years.

Narjes, of Broad Street, St Aidans, Carlisle, found out about Community Neighbours, a befriending scheme run by Carlisle City Council, quite by accident and says it changed her life.

She has spoken about her experiences to raise awareness of how people can help those who are lonely as part of National Befriending Week, which runs this week.

At an event at the university Narjes met Paul Caine, who runs the scheme. Before she knew it, Narjes was signed up to become a volunteer, which was something she was keen to do as she wanted to meet British people and make new friends.

She was introduced to a woman in Carlisle through the Community Neighbours scheme in December 2014 and the two are now such firm friends, Narjes says she is like a gran to her.

“Step by step we became familiar with each other. Now we are really best friends,” Narjes says.

The two see each other at least once a week and do a variety of things together including walks around the city, visits to nearby towns and villages, shopping, gardening, cooking and eating together and just generally hanging out as friends do.

Narjes says: “When I go out with her she always explains to me what is the name of this town, this mountain, this lake, she always explains everything to me.”

Her new friend also helped Narjes with English, which is her second language.

After two months of visits, Narjes was invited to go with her friend to church, where she says she met a whole new bunch of friendly people who are a great support to her and always offer their help.

“She changed my life,” Narjes says of her befriendee. “I can say if she wasn’t here and my friends in the church, I couldn’t stay here because they help me always. With my friends I never feel homesick because my friends are my new family.”

Paul is not surprised that Narjes has got so much out of volunteering with the scheme. He says often befriendees and befrienders get as much out of the partnership as each other. Although befriending someone is a simple thing, Paul says it can make a massive difference to people’s lives.

He says: “There’s something in it for everybody. I’ve met people that can hardly talk, you can hardly hear their voice because if you don’t talk, your voice starts to degrade. If you don’t speak, you lose that ability – it slowly weakens. And why speak if you’ve got no one to talk to? People regularly say to me, ‘These four walls are closing in on me’.

“It doesn’t have to be that way because there are people at whatever stage in their lives that could help them just by spending some time with them. You will get something back. You will get a memory that you will take with you forever.”

Community Neighbours has been running for two and half years and in that time 330 lonely people have been referred to it. It has successfully set up 119 partnerships between befrienders and befriendees and is always on the look out for new volunteers.

All people have to do to sign up to be a volunteer is complete an application form and take part in a background check. There are a huge variety of volunteers with Community Neighbours – their oldest befriender is 85.

Carlisle Eden Mind also runs a befriending scheme coordinated by Sean Turner.

Both Sean and Paul say they often go with their gut instincts when deciding who volunteers should befriend. Partnerships can last a very long time and create friendships that will last a lifetime.

Sean says: “It can make a massive difference, knowing that there’s someone that’s going, that’s interested, that wants to spend time with them. There was a lady who was befriended until her death and the family were incredibly grateful.

“The family lived miles away and they really cared for the mum. I think what they really appreciated was that the daughter was visiting once and heard her mum laughing and giggling away with the befriender and for her to know that her mum had this companion that was going in every week and spending some time chatting and laughing and getting on very well with her mum did so much for her.”

Sean advises anyone out there who feels they or someone they know may benefit from spending time with a new friend not to hesitate but get in touch.

Both Community Neighbours, which is based in Carlisle, and Carlisle Eden Mind’s befriending service are also very keen for new volunteers to get in touch. It may just be an hour of your time a week but it could change both your life and someone else’s.