He has single-handedly promoted the wearing of tangerine suits, has posed unashamedly in a rubber ring at the Sandcastle and regularly urged delegates into a rendition of "I do like to be beside the seaside" as a way of welcoming them to the resort.

To say Robert Wynne has been a bit of an extrovert, is probably an understatement.

During a whirlwind year, he has chatted with the Mayor of New York Michael Bloomberg and mingled with the likes of John Prescott who told him "Blackpool was robbed on the casino..."

Oh, and there is the small matter of raising £500,000 for his It's a Knockout mayoral charity.

Even on his final full day in office before today's mayor-making ceremony in the town hall chamber, Coun Wynne had a full schedule – pounding along the Promenade with thousands of others in the Blackpool 10K fun run, hosting the mini-run at Arnold School and meeting guests from Blackpool's twin town of Bottrop for a civic dinner.

But as he hands the chains of office over to Coun Mary Smith today, he says he hopes his greatest achievement from his year has been to show people that politics is something "ordinary" people do.

At the start of his year, he vowed to open up the town hall to the people and over the past 12 months they have streamed in.

Coun Wynne said: "For both the mayoress Gaynor and myself, one of the absolute highlights has been our school visitors, in particular getting children into the town hall.

"We have tried to tell them about the fact it's their town hall and we try and equate being a councillor to their school council.

"In fact, some of the debates the youngsters have had in our council chamber have been far more constructive than those involving the real councillors!

"I want people to realise that politics isn't something done by a special breed of person but by ordinary people. So by wearing a silly jacket, or going down waterslides, or doing the fun run, I'm just doing things I'd do anyway."

He has also used every opportunity to promote Blackpool and share the passion he feels for the town.

He said: "At the start of the year, you think about what you can do that is significant and raising the money has been one thing but I did want to represent Blackpool well. That is quite a responsibility as if you slip up, it can mean that organisations won't come back the following year.

"I have welcomed a lot of conferences during my year and all you have is about three minutes on the podium to sell Blackpool. But at the formal dinners, instead of speeches I would get everyone involved in a rendition of "I do like to be beside the seaside" and they loved it!"

Coun Wynne followed in the footsteps of his father Edmund, who was the resort's first citizen in 1972, so he knew from the start he had a lot to live up to.

But he has had the full support of all his family including his wife Gaynor, and three children James, Anna and Maria.

He said: "It's fantastically embarrassing for a 16-year-old for her father to be presenting the prizes at school and she has to go and get one. I gave her a big hug. She didn't speak to me for about a week!

"Gaynor has been a glamourous mayoress, always taking her camera and always having time to talk to people. But we have had to make changes. For example we're a family which always eats together and that has had to go out of the window."

But from today, a sense of normality – if that's possible in the Wynne household – will return and Coun Wynne will go back to concentrating on running his string of busy Blackpool pubs.

He will return to the back benches of the council chamber and his
colleague Coun Doug Green will continue as leader of the Liberal Democrats after taking on the role which Coun Wynne relinquished at the start of his mayoralty.

Meanwhile piled in his South Shore home, will be hundreds of little notes and cards from people he has come into contact with during his 12 months in office and they will be lovingly saved as a treasured memory of a job well done.