THE taxi driver becomes immediately animated when I say where I've been.

"The Well?" he beams. "They are good people, such good people. They helped me and they wanted nothing in return."

If you have never needed their services then it's likely you have never heard of The Well Multi-Cultural Resource Centre.

This year the centre marks 25 years of serving Govanhill and the wider South Side community, helping the evolving mix of newcomers to the area.

Run with the help of a team of 35 volunteers – including board members – and five staff, The Well is a high quality information and advice service for ethnic minority communities.

Like my taxi driver - who said he had limited English when he first arrived in Scotland - people can go along for immigration and benefits help and advice.

Even for native English speakers, navigating official documents can be a minefield, particularly now the government requires everything to be done online.

Manager of The Well, Rhoda Moudi, joined as staff in 1998 and took over the running of the centre in 2002.

She said: "The changes over the years have been mindblowing.

"At first 85 per cent of the people we were helping were from Pakistan - now we are helping the same numbers of people from Pakistan but so many other nationalities too.

"The government introduced its dispersal policy for asylum seekers and different cities signed up but didn't necessarily put the work in that was required to help them.

"At that time we started to see all these different backgrounds coming in, Afghanistan and Iraq.

"Then we had the Somalian community and that brought another change that impacted us.

"Next the former Eastern European countries were able to come to the UK and suddenly we had a lot of Slovakian Roma in Govanhill.

"The tensions it raised were something we had to deal with - each group thought we wouldn't help them and we had to say, 'No, that's not true, we are here for everybody.'

"Then the Romanian Roma were able to come here and the Slovakian Roma began to leave... so Govanhill has seen a lot of change and so has The Well."

Over the past two-and-a-half years, Rhoda says, the latest immigrant group has been people coming from Europe - "it's been absolutely dramatic" - ahead of Brexit.

While people coming from outwith Europe must have English, the Europeans do not - but the team is used to managing different languages.

Staff member Sarah McPhie said: "You just learn to manage. It's amazing how quickly you learn to work out what people need.

"We also have people who have been helped by us who offer to be translators for us, so we get by."

In the early 1990s the Church of Scotland carried out a "needs survey" to find out how it could help serve the growing Pakistani community in the area.

On March 23, 1994, the advice centre began and was an immediate draw for men and women seeking help with a wide variety of issues, such as English language barriers, social isolation, integration struggles and income deprivation.

Rhoda said: "It all came from the question, 'How can we be good neighbours to you?'

"And the answer came back, 'We need somewhere for information and advice.'

"And that ethos has continued as everything we do is in response to the need of our communities, such as our women-only English class. We were the first place to offer this."

Over the years the centre's services have grown as the local population has grown and in 2011 it became an independent charity.

It has evolved to include the English classes with a men's class following soon after the women's, IT sessions, a mother and toddler group and its women's Chai and Chat group.

Staff also run cultural awareness training for organisations working cross-culturally. For example we have run training days for Housing Associations.

Last year 1415 people used The Well's services during 8441 visits.

When I visit at lunchtime on a Wednesday afternoon there is already a queue forming outside for the afternoon session and in the morning the queue often begins at least an hour before The Well opens at 9.30am.

The need for its services – staff are qualified to offer immigration advice – is great.

Some of the cases workers hear are harrowing, others are extremely frustrating.

Some people have gone to places where they have been ripped off or exploited but all services at The Well is offered for free.

In one instance, which has Rhoda furious, a taxi driver is currently having to rely on Universal Credit having lost his taxi licence due to a flaw in the system.

The man has indefinite leave to remain in the UK, a status previously denoted by a document contained in a person's passport.

However, when he went to renew his taxi licence he was told he needs to have a biometric card.

These can take months to apply for and receive, which means he can't work while waiting for his card, and it will have to be renewed every five years, at considerable cost.

Another recent case saw a young woman denied her leave to remain as her English qualification - which was of a higher level than was needed - was out of date.

Rhoda said: "I had a couple queue up early to come and see me because they had a letter in that they couldn't read but which was covered in red ink and had them terrified.

"It turned out to be junk mail. But they needed someone to explain that to them and reassure them.

"We deal with very complex cases but we also deal with things like that.

"But everything we do impacts people who have nowhere else they can go for support."

The Well is currently struggling for funding and is making a donation plea for its anniversary, its 25 For 25 campaign.

Staff are asking people to consider pledging £25, which can provide:

•Heating and electricity for the centre for three days

•IT support for the centre for eight days

•A training session for one of our volunteers

To donate see www.thewell.org.uk