The advice I was given by a very experienced gardener was to 'leave it alone this spring then next year take out a third of them evenly spaced around the shrub, then you will have new growth and new colour as well as different shades in the older stems.

Goodness, I cut mine right down every spring.

one of my neighbours cuts his down to the ground every year too so don't worry Stera. It keeps it at about 3ft tall. Mine in about 4 foot now and is awaiting its part prune. I do like the different shades of red that I have.

Thank you Seaburngirl and Stera ,I will leave them
this year and prune next spring,I don't want them any higher than 3 to 4 ft,so thank you both for your advice.

I once had a lady who wanted the prunings to make basketwork with!

I bet those baskets would look lovely
stera,made from the red stems.

Yes - I wish she had remembered to bring one to show me.