The Ribston-Pippins began life in November of 1988. After many attempts to join a Detroit, MI-based Sherlockian society failed, (due to the fact that it had been dormant for several years), the Ribston-Pippins founder and current Chief Inspector, Violet Hunter, (a.k.a. Regina) decided to take a chance on starting a new Holmes group. Fliers were made and distributed to various local bookstores and libraries in an economical effort to locate others who were interested in Holmes. The surprising (well, maybe not-so-surprising) result was that at 7:30PM, on November 18, 1988, approximately 10 people arrived at what is now affectionately referred to as Wisteria Lodge and the first official meeting of the Ribston-Pippins was held. The group now boasts a small, but devoted and enthusiastic membership of 20 and has been meeting (irregularly) every third Friday of nearly every month since. We publish a monthly newsletter called the Footprints & Lens, edited by Vernet (a.k.a. Sam). Our two sub-scions, The Persian Slippers and The Ladies Tea and Sympathy Society, (the former being listed in the Bunson book), meet occasionally to partake of tobacco and tea, respectively.