Gascoyne was born in 1968 in Huthwaite, Nottinghamshire, to Marian and Derrick Gascoyne.
These routes began in Mansfield's Market Place and went to Berry Hill, Crown Farm, Mansfield Woodhouse, Pleasley and via Sutton-in-Ashfield to Hucknall-under-Huthwaite.
An ambitious plan to move to nearby Huthwaite and change the name to Sutton Town (at the time the old Sutton Town was known as Ashfield United) never materialised and the club resigned from the league.
This claim was later disputed, with the suggestion that Strawberry Bank near Huthwaite was the highest natural point, with others highlighting Newtonwood Lane, on the western edge of the county as another possible contender.
When the family moved to Huthwaite in Nottinghamshire he started work in New Hucknall Colliery, also attending night classes organised by the Workers Educational Association in politics, economics and trade union history.