"Emrys Davies" writes:

A a few meters of a 7' tall privet hedge and some holly at our bowling
club has gradually overgrown part of a pathway. Ideally, it needs to be
trimmed back some six inches and that would mean cutting into old wood.
If I do that now will it recover this year?

Cut it back further than it needs, and let the new growth fill back
in. It doesn't take long to start looking reasonable again.

Anthony