Help needed........

[ELVIS68]

I`ve found an old photograph of my grandparents with Harold Wilson taken at a black tie event at Downing Street in 1970.

My dad says he remembers them going there but cannot recall why.

There`s a copy of the invitation which says "In honour of His Excellency the Prime Minister of Sweden and Mrs Olaf Palme....The Prime Minister and Mrs Harold Wilson request the honour of the company of (my nan and grandad) at a Reception at 10, Downing Street, Whitehall on Tuesday, 7th April, 1970 at 10pm."

My nan was only a housewife back then and my grandad a retired ambulance driver!

Is there anyway of finding out why they was invited?

[Buenchico]

Was your grandfather, perhaps, a prominent figure in his local Labour Party?

I'm sorry that I can't really help but you might be interested to know who your grandfather might have met at No 10. Those present included Bernadette Devlin:
http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/51176563
Jack Charlton:
http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/71046815
as well as the two central characters:
http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/3334486

Chris

[wolf63]

I tried to find our why they were visiting the UK but I didn't find any useful information.

Try Googling your grandparents name or try local newspaper archives.

good Luck

[bunkmoreland]

your grandad was a retired ambulance driver,that may have included the war and that generation never talked much about what they went through?

[ELVIS68]

Thanks Chris and wolf, bunkmoreland, I`ve been told he used to recover bodies from bombed buildings during World War 2 as part of his duties for the ambulance service

[bunkmoreland]

think you've probably found your answer and he was surely more entitled to a good reception than any of them;-)

[ELVIS68]

Could be, but 1970 is a long wait to be recognised for something done many years before

[bunkmoreland]

unfortunately,some people take long time to be thanked and rehttp://articles.cnn.com/2010-03-10/politics
/women.pilots_1_women-airforce-service-pilots
-wasps-congressional-gold-medal?_s=PM:POLITIC
Scocgnised.........

[bunkmoreland]

http://articles.cnn.c...-medal?_s=PM:POLITICS

[jno]

I can't think why they'd be invited to meet the Swedish PM (he was the one later assassinated) just because of ambulance driving - you'd normally expect either some link to Sweden, or perhaps as Chris suggests to the Labour party.

I notice the date you give isn't the same as for the photos Chris links to, so maybe there were two receptions?

You could try the Times archives - they might explain what the purpose of the reception was - or perhaps those of your local paper in the library; they might have mentioned it at the time.