IT'S that time of year again. Strawberries for sale by the roadside, suburbs gone all leafy, evenings stretching lazily into night; yes, it's the season known to devotees as Prom time. Roll a summer concert, a football match and a party into one, say the same devotees, and you get some idea of the atmosphere in the "standing room only" section of tee annual Bank of Ireland/ RTE Proms series, which begins at the RDS on Sunday night. Boisterous behaviour is not only tolerated but positively encouraged. Mozart meets Manchester United. Beethoven and Berlioz with balloons on.

If you like the sound of that, you're a potential Promenader. But Promenading is not all fun and games. First of all, you have to be properly dressed. "I always feel the Proms herald the summer," says Mags O Dalaigh, "so I get into a pair of pale slacks and my stripey blazer. I take a sort of Joycean line, I suppose." Hats of the boater persuasion are pretty much de rigueur - they can be purchased at the RDS on the night but truly dedicated Promenaders save theirs from one year to the next - and as for footwear, you can wear anything you like as long as you, wear runners. "That's because," says Mags O Dalaigh with the air of one who knows, "your feet really do get tired standing for all that length of time. And of course you have to be prepared to sit on your jacket if needs be.

"Some people bring cushions to sit on but we feel they're the marks of hmm, well, let's say the older person - so I wouldn't be dead bringing in a cushion, cause where would you stop? Would you have to bring the plaid rug and the flask as well? Where does it end? But seriously, the sense of relief when the interval comes, and you plonk yourself down on the floor, is immense."

And then you have to be prepared to muck in, for there is at, the Proms, says Mags O Dalaigh, a kind of "we're all in it together" feeling which is quite unlike that at any mainstream arts or music event. "In the theatre you wouldn't be inclined to chat to people on either side of you but here on the floor you could end up supporting your back against somebody else's back - a total stranger - so you do get into conversation. People are terribly good to one another; especially if you're small. I'm only five foot two and I might end up with a big man in front of me, my nose only comes up to his elbow, but he'll let me see past him anyhow."

JEAN Perrem agrees. "The Proms are totally different to other concerts," she says. "They're light hearted and they're great craic. I think it's the idea of standing around and mingling with other people - there's a certain cameraderie that you form with the people around you and you can shout and be as noisy as you like - you feel a part of it, I suppose that's it, really. You feel a part of it."

The Viennese night, next Tuesday, appeals to her, says Jean Perrem, because it's music which creates a special atmosphere - and it's also good for a bit of a hop. "It's music you can move to. Actually I have a video at home somewhere from a few years ago with a crowd of us on it, wearing masks and waving things - we all got dressed up, rooted something out for the occasion that was even half appropriate. It was great fun. But this year we're going to the last night; we have some German visitors coming for that weekend and I thought, `what could we bring them to?' and then I remembered the Proms. It's perfect."

For Ciaran Walsh, arts administrator, who says he's been going to Proms for "aeons" - every year, in fact, since he sang in the Promenade version of West Side Story in 1991. The whole point of going to the Proms is to stand, though he admits he likes to have a seat for the opera evenings. "Completely logical, isn't it?" He says, that if he were to prioritise his reasons for going, he'd say "atmosphere first of all, repertoire second of all and then just the audience".

Quite a change from the normal classical concert, where audiences should be seen and not heard. "That's why I like it. I'm not saying the concert hall isn't marvellous - it is - but this is a different atmosphere, just for one week of the year. There's a great mix of people and the various types of music cater to that - I mean, a De Dannan night wouldn't be my cup of tea but I think it's great that they're doing that kind of music, because it brings in a whole new audience again.

"The opera night is a great one, too, because you get an audience there for opera that you'd never get for opera any other night of the year - a younger audience, I suppose, which is to do with the practicality of ticket prices. I mean, where else would you get an opera for £3.75?"

This year he's particularly looking forward to the opening night on Sunday, when soprano Mary Hegarty joins senor Thomas Randle, the RTE Philharmonic Choir and the National Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Harry Christophers for an evening, of what the Proms programme gleefully describes as Opera n Oratorio. This includes such lump in the throat numbers as Pan is Angelicus, Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring and extracts from Handel's Messiah and Mozart's Requiem as well as Verdi favourites like the drinking song from La Traviata.

"I saw Mary Hegarty in London in Don Pasquale and I thought she was amazing," says Ciaran Walsh. "I'll probably go to the Tchaikovsky night (Friday May 24th) as well. The thing about the Proms is, you know what you're going to, it's tried and trusted, an old friend. But the sense of expectation does not lessen for that - in fact, it heightens it."

Some Promenaders, like Mags O Dalaigh, know exactly what they like and head straight for it. "Mmm. The opera. Definitely. Thursday night. Madame Butterfly? I just adore it." If Madame Butterfly is definitely not your bag, you might find something more to your taste on Monday night, when Gareth Hudson leads the RTE Concert Orchestra and a batch of vivacious soloists in a jaunt through Oscar winning songs and film themes, or Tuesday night, when Micheal O Suilleabhain and Hiberno Jazz join De Danann, while the best of young Irish classical talent will be on display for the Young Prom on Sunday May 26th, when Gearoid Grant conducts the National Youth Orchestra in a programme which includes music by Smetena, Elgar, Bizet and Gerard Victory.

But whatever you do, don't miss the Last Night (Saturday May 25th). This year's proceedings will have a strongly Eastern flavour with Romanian Legend, a group of classically trained Romanian musicians led by RTE Concert Orchestra violinist Mircea Petcu, making its Proms debut. If you've heard Romanian Legend already, on one of its forays around the country or on its brand new CD, you'll know what to expect - vivid swirls of rhythm, haunting melodies, foot stomping dances and weird and wonderful traditional instruments like the trumpet violin and the dulcimer, superbly played by this nine member band of consummate stylists. And if you haven't and you don't book now and there are no tickets left come Saturday week, and you see it live on RTE television and you can't believe you aren't there waving and stomping with the rest, well, don't say you weren't warned.