H E L P Group

For more than 100 developmentally disabled San Fernando Valley residents, a chance to spend the upcoming holiday with a home-cooked meal and a little conversation would be reason enough to give thanks. The United Cerebral Palsy/Spastic Children's Foundation is asking Valley residents to invite developmentally disabled clients to their homes for Thanksgiving dinner. The dinners don't have to be offered Thanksgiving day, said Sharon Collins, the foundation's development director.

Sitting about 14 feet from Queen Elizabeth II and just six from Prince Philip at the Library of Congress luncheon last week in Washington was a thrill. A number of Californians, including First Lady Gayle Wilson, were among the 350 invited to the elegant affair co-hosted by the library and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

When Brad Gilbert plays in the Volvo/Los Angeles final today, a familiar figure will be sitting high up in the stands at UCLA: his father, Barry Gilbert. "I put him up in the Bob Uecker seats," Gilbert said. Down in the comfortable box seats near the court will be Gilbert's mother, his wife, his son and his coach--but not his dad. The problem is that Barry tends to get too uptight during matches, Gilbert said. And if Dad gets uptight, son could get uptight, too.

It's not exactly the green, green grass of home, but Wimbledon is where Andre Agassi finds himself, for better or worse, for the first time in four years. The combination of Agassi and lawn tennis might prove to be one of the more interesting sidelights to the All England Championships, which begin Monday at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on Church Road, Wimbledon. So far, the questions surrounding Agassi are threefold (abbreviated Agassi responses in parentheses): 1.

Masters week begins Monday at Augusta National and you can bet your blooming azaleas that nostalgia will flow as freely as Rae's Creek in the place where the legend of Bobby Jones still thrives. Actually, it's getting even bigger, 25 years after his death.

In key. On note. Gordon P. Getty (synonymous with millions) will speak at the spring luncheon meeting of the Hollywood Bowl Patroness Committee on May 7 at the home of Mrs. Clifford W. Lord in Beverly Hills. But not about money. About music. The classical American composer's most prominent work, the complete opera "Plump Jack," will be premiered by the BBC in July at London's Royal Festival Hall. Getty happens to be a friend of Mrs. Stanley R.

Secrecy and suspense so surround the Pasadena Junior Philharmonic Committee's 25th Anniversary Premiere Night Party of the Pasadena Showcase House of Design that only party chairman Shirley Goldsmith, president Christina Varner and Brenda Owen, the anniversary benefit chairman, know the intricacies of the gala on Saturday. We can tell you it's on a monumental scale with dancing planned until the wee hours. This year, says Linda Seiter, the committee goes to a reservation system for the Showcase public days next Sunday through May 21. That's because they couldn't control the flow of sometimes 53,000 people a year who come to the event in La Canada Flintridge.

The funniest social situation in the past few days occurred when the affable David Hockney, whose sensational art exhibit is moving on to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, locked his keys in his Chrysler at the opening night of performances here by the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields. No problem. He left the car with the valet, engine running, and dashed into the Ambassador Auditorium in time for the first beat of Prokofiev's "Classical" symphony.

Adm. James D. Watkins is definitely not an admiral who is sailing into the sunset. The former U.S. chief of naval operations (until last year), was named Distinguished Honoree by Americana Associates at the First Gala in the new Four Seasons Hotel ballroom the other evening, not only for what he's done, but what he's doing.

Cindra and Alan Ladd Jr. hosted a fund-raiser at their home June 1, which raised $500,000 for the Children's Health Environment Coalition, founded by Nancy and James Chuda, whose 5-year-old daughter died of a rare cancer caused by an environmental toxic substance. Cynthia Palmer Gershman received the evening's Angel Award for her support. . . .