Winifred Norah Bickerstaff, QSM (née Bent) was born on 8 June 1925 in New Plymouth, Taranaki. She was the 5th of 6 children to Robert Allen Bent and Alice Bent. Both parents came from pioneer Taranaki families.
She attended New Plymouth Central School and New Plymouth Girls High School. From an early age she was taught the violin by Miss E. Dowling. During WWII she became a "land girl" biking a few miles every day to assist on a dairy farm. After leaving school, she began nursing training at the old New Plymouth Hospital, just across the valley from the family home on Standish Hill. She graduated with a "Hospital Certificate" and was registered as a General Nurse from the beginning of 1947 becoming a night shift supervisor at New Plymouth hospital. In 1949 she moved to Auckland to undergo a six-month maternity training at the old Cornwall Hospital. After completing this course, she accepted a position as Tutor Sister at Dunedin Hospital which she took up in late 1949. She officially became also a Registered Obstetrics Nurse at the beginning of 1950.
Winifred had been physically active in her childhood, summitting Mt Taranaki more than once in conjunction with members of the Taranaki Alpine Club. In Dunedin she was able to indulge in her love of tramping and undertook many multi-day tramping adventures in Fiordland and the West Coast. On one occasion, she walked more than 20 miles along rugged tracks for help after a member of her party fell and broke a leg. It was on a return from one of those tramping trips that she and her friend got stranded by a bus strike. She met her future husband as a result, he being best friends with the gentleman who gave them a lift and got them onto a train back to Dunedin, arriving just in time to start work.
Winifred became engaged to Roslee Reedman Bickerstaff as a result of this acquaintance and they were married in New Plymouth in 1953. After their honeymoon, they settled in Roslee's hometown of Napier and indeed they moved into his family home.
In 1962, Winifred started teaching the violin for the Hawkes Bay Education Board. She taught literally thousands of students in after school and Saturday morning classes. As part of this instruction, she organized end of year concerts in which her students performed for their parents. She would also loan violins to students from low-income families, and encouraged all students to appreciate music no matter their musical ability.
Winifred became impressed by the success of students learning to play the violin via the Suzuki method and in the early 1980s she switched to using it, attending training courses and setting up also the Hawkes Bay Branch of the NZ Suzuki Institute. She was the Hawkes Bay delegate on the National Executive of NZSI from the 1980s until 2010. In 1987 she travelled to Japan to meet Dr Suzuki and was made a Life Member of the NZSI in September of that year. Her students excelled and many went on to become notable performers and instructors themselves. In 2019, Winifred was awarded the Queens Service Medal for "services to music education".
In addition to her violin teaching, Winifred was an avid photographer and member of the Napier Camera Club. She also became a tutor for Senior Net after learning how to use a computer to email her children, friends and colleagues.
Winifred passed away peacefully at Taradale Masonic Rest Home and Hospital, on 14 August 2026, aged 101 years.