Tom was born in Bootle in May 1941, son of a shipwright, and came to St. Mary's from St. Monica's Primary School. After a doctorate and lectureship at Liverpool University, he transferred to Birmingham University where, in 1981, he was appointed Hanson Professor of Metallurgy. Tom's work had global impact. He was the originator and foremost promoter of the multidisciplinary concept of ‘surface engineering', embracing materials science and design and process engineering, with applications ranging from heavy industry to medical prosthetics. Tom was also a trailblazer, from the 1970s, in opening up academic and industrial links with China, holding professorships in Chinese universities and bringing to Birmingham a brilliant succession of doctoral students. In 1997 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. He was only the second British citizen to be honoured with membership of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and in 2007 was appointed professor and director of the International Surface Engineering Centre at Xian University. Tom was St. Mary's Chairman of Governors from 1987 to the formation of the new Trust on 1st January 2006. Sadly Tom passed away in April 2008.
Rachael Russell was born in 1980 in Liverpool. Educated at St. Mary's College, she began singing at the age of 12 and performed regularly as a chorister and soloist with the Orphic singers. At 16, she toured the south of England as a member of the National Youth Music Theatre. Rachael studied at the Royal College of Music for a short time before transferring to the Royal Northern College of Music, where she studied with Caroline Cranshaw, completing her 4 year Bachelor of Music Degree and graduating in December 2005. The previous year she was awarded the James Martin Oncken Song Prize and the Doherty Recital Prize and covered the role of Second Woman in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas. Rachael holds the title of Liverpool City's Singer in Residence in conjunction with the European Capital of Culture 2008.