When Ajit Bhart arrived in England from his native India as a young man in 1964, he had just £3 in his pocket.

But during the intervening 43 years, the grandfather-of-two has forged a successful career, supported his large family and become well-known in local politics.

And now the retired corporate lawyer has notched up another achievement - completing a year as Bicester's first Asian town mayor.

During the past 12 months Dr Bhart has cut dozens of ribbons, unveiled plaques and attended numerous official dinners.

And having completed 260 engagements during his year in office - more than double, he says, of any other town mayor over the past decade - he has certainly kept himself busy.

The 68-year-old said his favourite part of the job was meeting so many people.

He said: "The best part was meeting people and also representing them. People's eyes are on you as the head of the town.

"I met young people, old people, police officers and politicians, so you have to have quite a good rapport with people."

The married father-of-four said he had particularly tried to strengthen the town council's image to make people more aware of its role.

He also said local politics was too dominated by political parties and added he hoped he had remained independent in his role as mayor. Referring to his involvement in the campaign to secure Bicester a new community hospital, Dr Bhart said: "This is a community project, it's nothing to do with politics."

Dr Bhart moved to Bicester 10 years ago to be closer to his daughters, who are both officers in Thames Valley Police.

But he said making the transition from the multicultural town of Slough to the less diverse Bicester area had sometimes been a challenge.

He said: "The Asian background is sometimes an obstacle. There can be difficult situations arising due to your background. People were surprised when I became a councillor."

But he added this was not something limited to being Asian and said many other people had backgrounds which made them different in some way. And he added people had been very welcoming to him and his family.

He said: "Becoming a councillor was a big achievement because there were no Asian votes, so it means you have to rely on your own merit."

Now Dr Bhart has handed his civic chains over to fellow town councillor John Cozens, he said he would keep busy serving on various town and district council committees and other outside bodies.