Twenty years ago Mr Tom Coyle sent a letter to Ol' Blue Eyes. "I had his address in America, so I wrote and told him how much I appreciated his music. A month passed and a signed photo of Frank arrived through the door."

The photo takes pride of place on the wall of his Co Dublin home alongside a framed 78, Sinatra's first recording.

Mr Coyle is chairman of the Irish branch of the Sinatra Music Society. He is nostalgic but upbeat when asked about the singer's death. "We expected it to a certain extent but it was still sad. I have been a fan since the 1950s when I used to listen to the Frank Sinatra Show on AFN [American Forces Network]. My father hated it because at that stage Frank had left his first wife and that was not on in those days. In a way it all started as a form of rebellion," he recalls.

Formed four years ago, the society has about 70 members and meets on the second Monday of every month in the Ashling Hotel in Dublin. For most of them the passion for Sinatra began long before. The society's treasurer, Mr John Watt, was "a Pat Boone man" when he got married. "But my best man was a big Frank Sinatra buff and he gave me a copy of A Swinging Affair. That was the start of my affair with Frank Sinatra," he says. Like most Sinatra addicts he now owns hundreds of the singer's CDs and albums as well as books, posters and other memorabilia.

All over Ireland yesterday tributes flowed in for Sinatra. Senator Donie Cassidy said that "very few have touched as many as Frank Sinatra did and his place in history is guaranteed".

U2's lead singer Bono, who performed a duet with the late singing legend, also issued the following tribute yesterday: "Frank Sinatra was the 20th century, he was modern, he had swing and he had attitude. He was the boss but he was always Frank Sinatra. We won't see his like again".

Veteran Irish actor Richard Harris yesterday expressed his sadness at Sinatra's death. "They're all gone, all the greats," he lamented.

Meanwhile, the youngest member of the Sinatra Society, Mr Carl O'Connor (28), spent yesterday fielding calls of commiseration on his mobile phone.

"I'm very upset," he said yesterday. "It's the end of an era, the end of the performance or recording of that type of music".

Since he was 12, he says, he has gravitated towards jazz and Sinatra's dulcet tones rather than contemporary sounds.

On Sinatra's last birthday he hosted a party ("average age of guests was 25", he says) and played the singer's hits all night. "We did have a stack of Spice Girls and the like ready in case everyone hated it but it went down really well. People actually stopped talking to listen to the lyrics of his songs," he marvels.

Most of the members have seen Sinatra perform live in venues from Carnegie Hall to Lansdowne Road and are glad for the memories. "The meetings won't stop, we'll still celebrate his 2,000 recordings over the past 60 years," says Mr Hitchcock. "I think we'll all toast Frank with a Jack Daniel's tonight".

For more information on the Irish branch of the Sinatra Music Society phone John Watt on 831-2689