Mrs Fake, of Waimate, turns 100 next month. She is a well-known member of the club and has won many bridge tournaments, including taking out the main title at the club’s 60th jubilee last year.
About 60 bridge club members turned up at the club to help Mrs Fake celebrate her upcoming birthday.
"It was a big surprise, " Mrs Fake said.
Oamaru club vice-president Junelle Edmonds said Mrs Fake still played every Friday and at her club in Waimate and she always had a good joke.
"She’s still as sharp as ever.
"I said to her ‘you’ll be looking forward to your card from the King’ and she said, ‘I don’t think so, not after the way he treated Diana’."
Mrs Fake was born on May 22, 1924, in England.
She grew up in Chesterfield, and met her future husband in New Zealand when here on a teacher exchange in 1957.
After their daughter was born in Dunedin, the family returned to England.
Mr Fake, who worked as a travelling salesman, died in a road accident in 1977.
Mrs Fake returned to New Zealand and settled in Waimate in 1998 to be closer to her daughter, who had resettled in New Zealand.
Her daughter Helen Gardner said she had fond memories of growing up, despite losing her father when she was 12.
"We were always a card-playing family.
"It was great. Mum did her best.
"I’m sure it was tough as a single mum.
"She had me when she was 40 years old.
Mrs Gardner said her mother was only married 14 years before her dad died and she was "quite independent".
"She was ahead of her time ... she went on holiday, she went to Europe and went mountaineering and climbing.
"That was back in the day when women weren’t really doing that.
"She rode a motorcycle, a Vespa, all around Italy, with a friend and their suitcases were piled up on the back. Back in the time that suitcases were put into the nose of the plane, in the early ’50s."
Her daughter believed her autonomy had a lot to do with her long life.
"She was a great mum. She is an independent lady.
"She had this amazing, adventurous life before having me.
"She’s got that independence and stubbornness. She still wanted to live alone up until recently and has still been driving," Mrs Gardner said.
Luck also played a big part in her long and healthy life, Mrs Fake said.
"I’ve had one or two illnesses but nothing that’s life-threatening. I’ve been very lucky... I just put one foot in front of the other each day."
