New Year Honours: Alan Turner honoured for services to the game of bridge

Alan Turner first learned to play bridge to make a quick buck.

He was a university student in his homeland, South Africa, and his cunning plan — inspired by seeing other students playing board and card games for cash — was an utter failure.

"It cost me a lot of money," he said with a laugh.

Fortunately he went on to become one of the top players in his family's adopted country of New Zealand.

He reached the highest rank offered, Gold Grand Master, represented the country overseas and contributed many years to administering the game.

His services to "the game of bridge" have been recognised with a Queen's Service Medal in the 2017 New Year Honours.

Turner said he was "completely taken aback" when he read the notification letter from Government House.

"Nothing like this has ever happened before in my life."

Reflecting back on his 44 years of playing bridge, his most cherished achievement related to games in which he never touched a card.

In 2006 he captained the New Zealand women's team to a win at the Pacific Asia Bridge Federation Championship in Shanghai, China — a feat he understood no other Kiwi team has achieved.

Bridge even played a small part in how he met his wife, Judy, who was a legal secretary in the firm one of his bridge partners worked for.

"I looked over the top of the typewriters and thought 'Oh, I haven't seen her before'. I suddenly forgot about bridge for a while after that happened," he said.