A SENSE of community is driving Nestles to keep its history intact in a season away from its spiritual home.
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Factory will shift its headquarters to Jones Oval this summer as the long-awaited Reid Oval redevelopment kicks off.
The club met at its historic clubrooms - known as the Worland Pavilion - on Friday to farewell the site.
It will be bulldozed to make way for modern social rooms, storage and changerooms on the back of the $11 million renovations.
We're still Nestles, still Factory. We don't want to lose sight of where we come from.
- Alex Strauch
Several former and current players - including legend Ian 'Lefty' Wright and oldest living player Ken Isle - attended to pay their respects to the building.
Nestles coach Alex Strauch said while the club would be absent form Reid Oval in the summer, it was determined to maintain its identity within the community.
"I don't want to lose the history we have," Strauch told The Standard.
"They're great value, some of our older guys, and they still come around and have a beer and a chat with us.
"I said to the guys in our Facebook group that it's not going to be easy this year. We're not going to be at Reid, we're going to be playing at (Jones Oval).
"But we're still Nestles, still Factory. We don't want to lose sight of where we come from.
"We want to educate some of our younger guys about who we are and where we've come from."
Strauch said the club's pre-season would carry a heavy community theme.
"We're do some running at the racecourse, going for walks around Liebig Street and get coffees from local businesses that might be struggling," he said.
"We're trying to make sure we still have a presence and identity and I think that's somewhere can have a point of difference.
"You see a lot of clubs who support their sponsors and that's it but we want to a community club."
Strauch said on-field success was a key part of the club's future plans but also placed a premium on building a strong culture.
"We want to have that success but getting the culture side out there is important," he said.
"(All-rounder) Jake Hetherington is a photography student and we've said 'come take some photos of us' while we're training at the breakwater for pre-season and whatnot.
"We just want to be proactive and out there and show the community what we're doing."
Strauch said Nestles was excited for the Reid Oval redevelopment. He said the planned works suited Factory's needs and would help the club prosper in future seasons.
Nestles will share Jones Oval with East Warrnambool-YCW.
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