Ray Lomax was a timpanist and conductor that lived in Edgeley, Stockport, but was born in Wallasey, Merseyside. Ray worked as a principal altimpanist with BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, a position that he secured as a flourishing student at the Royal Northern College of Music. He also worked for multiple other British orchestras, found time to run and conduct Stockport Festival Chorus and Stockport Youth Orchestra, as well as direct the singers of St George's in Poynton. Ray sadly died of cancer at the age of 47, with the RNCM holding a tribute to him in 2012, ten years after his passing.